The President Needs Some Bully With His Pulpit
I find President Bush a difficult to support President at times. And it isn't just because I am disappointed in him for the battles he avoids or the spending he doesn't veto. I also find it difficult to believe that he doesn't do a better job getting his good accomplishments in the headlines.
He is doing a better job right now with the war. He has turned up the heat on his critics, and his speeches in this area are bringing him some deserved good press. One this week stands out.
But we learned from President Clinton that economic prosperity can cover up a whole lot of sins. And President Bush is currently overseeing a huge economic boom. Housing sales just hit an all time high. Unemployment is at 5% and employment is growing, meaning people are entering the workforce and finding jobs. When is the President going to shove this good information down our throats?Larry Kudlow reminds us of who created the formula for success.
Their polls are sagging, but the economy is soaring. This simply shouldn’t be.
If former President Clinton had overseen this economy, he’d have held daily Rose Garden news conferences to mark the occasion. In fact, former President Reagan did just that in the booming 1980s -- he gave speech after speech touting the success of his supply-side tax cuts. Yet President Bush seldom goes into the current economic story, and when he does it’s just a mention.
After explaining the tremondous economic news, Kudlow offers some policy advice on keeping the economy growing. But the real point, as I saw it, was why doesn't the President make it impossible to ignore this news. Because when it can, the LameStream Media will ignore the good news, or downplay it.
Confront the Left and the media, President Bush. Make them poor mouth numbers that would have made Clinton proud. You remember those years -- 1992 to 2000 -- when we didn't hear about the homeless or the unemployed or the gap between the rich and the less rich (in America, the poor are merely less rich by the world's standards). We are still living them as a country. The only thing that has changed is a war and the party of the President. To the media, that means the focus changes. It is up to President Bush to make it impossible to ignore his success.
So step forward and start talking.
NOTE: The picture is of a horse named "Bully Pulpit." It was the best picture I could find on Yahoo with that search.
posted by KJ @ 11:04 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Excellent point you and Larry have made here.
Perhaps it is modesty. In which case he wouldn't have to take credit for it, just talk about it. Over and over.
Make them poor mouth numbers that would have made Clinton proud.
And just how do you suggest he do that, KJ? Commandeer the free press? You know as well as I do that whenever he gives a speech, they only excerpt the parts they want to. How, precisely, does he "force" them to cover what he wants covered?
There have been several studies, by the way, that show that during a Republican Presidency, even when the President *does* what you suggest, it is routinely covered negatively by the press anyway and the net result is that the public still thinks the economy is flagging.
There is an institutional problem here that you are ignoring, I think. It takes an awful lot of time (and money) to do weekly Rose Garden chats and extra speeches, while the press are hammering away at him every single day. How is he supposed to keep up with that? He gives one speech and there are literally hundreds of articles "interpreting" and "rebutting" it without quoting what he said.
Absent some law that forces the media to some truth in reporting or to cover Presidential speeches, I'm at a loss for how he should "make" them cover what he says.
The economic indicator I appreciate best is how much my 401K has gained in the past few weeks...selfish bastard that I truly am.
Well said. I apologize for the rant KJ. I shouldn't comment after reading the WaPo - way too aggravating.
I've just been reading a lot about this lately and I get tired of people blaming the President for something I don't believe he can influence all that much. I've read a fair amount that suggests that it makes little difference what the President says because his is just a sporadic voice that pipes up now and then in a constant rain of input from the media, plus his message never gets through unfiltered.
Hence my ire. I sometimes wonder why, when we have PBS and American Radio in Europe, we don't have the same sort of thing here in America so the federal govt. and military could actually get news out unfiltered. People could listen (or not) at THEIR option.
I'd like to hear when one of our guys gets a silver star or we win a battle. Let me figure out if I'm being spun or not - it's not like I don't have to do that listening to the MSM. How about not having the President of the US have to fight for air time? What a concept.
I;m no strategerist but I believe I know why our Pres has been negligent in tooting his own horn:
He (and his "brain" I suppose) are waiting for the right time to enter the fight, along the lines of Ali's rope-a-dope technique. Responding to the Media as soon as they tip their hand is not that productive unless there are elections to win soon. It would be construed as defending himself.
By waiting until the best time, he appears to be unconcerned with polls (a good thing in Conservative eyes), presenting facts and not reacting to unjustified charges (another good thing), and he actually produces results (obviously a good thing).
I have no answer, however, for the absence of his Veto stick.
Hey Tom, that's easy.
He's going for the whole Reagan legacy thing :D
Cass,
Was that sarcastic? I missed something.
I was agreeing that Bush is very nearly the same sort of Pres as Reagan. A man considered to dumb to tie his shoes (they wear those cowboy boots for a reason!) yet he still manages to succeed where many have failed miserably, and in an unreasonably short time....
Oh wait, I just connected with the tongue-out smiley face.. Nevermind. Back to your choir practice.
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