His Search For A New Groove (Bush needs ideas for SOTU)

[papau]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1139848,00.html
From the Magazine | Nation

His Search For A New Groove

The President has had a dreadful year, and his approval ratings are anemic. What Bush is doing to try to reverse his second-term slump

By KAREN TUMULTY, MIKE ALLEN Dec. 11, 2005

<snip> But recalibration and retrenchment do not come naturally to this President. Bush recently rejected a draft of an economic speech because it didn't mention his now dead proposal to restructure Social Security. He is still steamed because his nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers for the Supreme Count imploded; he vented about it to African-American leaders who met with him last week to discuss racial issues and Katrina disaster relief--prompting one of them to gently remind him that it was not African Americans but conservative Republicans who were her undoing. His reading of late has tended toward military history, which offers the comfort that other wartime Presidents, notably Harry Truman, endured scathing criticism by their contemporaries only to be redeemed by history.

Advisers and friends say Bush has not let go of his faith in himself or his patented upbeat style. He still delights in nicknames: backstage last week before his big speech on Iraq, Bush called Richard Haass, chairman of the august Council on Foreign Relations, "Sheriff"--a play on the title of Haass's book, The Reluctant Sheriff. Pals visiting from Midland, Texas, this month thought they were there to buck up their old friend; instead, they found him relaxed and unperturbed. "The President believes he's serving at this time for a reason--that his instincts, experience and convictions are suited for big challenges," says Austin-based strategist Mark McKinnon. Or as Bush has put it, the job is "to make a difference, not to mark time."

"The White House expects a quick victory on Bush's Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, and the State of the Union speech will nod to big goals. But when it comes to fresh and concrete ideas, the list of what Bush will actually try to accomplish in 2006 is so modest that one bewildered Republican adviser calls it 'an insult to incrementalism.'"

"White House advisers tell TIME that the agenda for 2006 is in flux and that senior aide Karl Rove is still cooking up ideas. But the initiatives they have settled on sound more like Clinton's brand of small-bore governance: computerizing medical records; making it easier for workers to take their health benefits with them when they leave a job and—an idea that captured Bush's imagination in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina—giving a boost to Catholic and other private schools as an alternative for inner-city children. While Bush still hopes to sign an immigration bill by summer and plans to talk a lot about the subject next year, his program to offer temporary legal status to illegal immigrant workers remains a tough sell with the conservatives in Congress."<snip>

[tularetom]

1. WTF - sounds like they make it up

as they go along. I mean we all know * is an idiot and they had no plan for Iraq, but "Rove is cooking up ideas" for 2006 in December 2005. Is this any way to govern "the world's only supeerpower".

[papau]

2. It does sound like a class project for the Freshman class. :-(

:-(

[antonialee839]

3. Advisers and friends say Bush has not let go of his faith in himself

or his patented upbeat style. He still delights in nicknames...

In other words, he's still delusional and still an asshole.

[grasswire]

4. say what?

"The President believes he's serving at this time for a reason--that his instincts, experience and convictions are suited for big challenges"

I'm speechless at the narcissism. How could one of the world's least talented citizens possibly solve its problems?

[Demeter]

5. It Should Be an Interesting Event--State of the Union

I doubt that even one scintilla of truth will appear in Bush's speech (should he survive in office long enough to make it). So the speech itself will be of no significance.

What will be significant is the reaction in the corridors of DC and the homes and gatherings of US citizens. Will they yawn in boredom and change the channel, or storm into the streets and demand impeachment?

"In the absence of an overwhelming outside force, an object at rest tends to stay at rest." Physics is a bitch, sometimes. On the other hand, though, E=mc2. It is not impossible.

[beltanefauve]

6. What a crock of sh*t!

"He's listening a little more because he's looking for something new. He's looking for ideas. He wants to hear what people are saying, because something might strike him as worth following up on." More like, the old lies and spin aren't working like they used to. What is it that the sheeple want to hear now?

And this: "His reading of late has tended toward military history, which offers the comfort that other wartime Presidents, notably Harry Truman, endured scathing criticism by their contemporaries only to be redeemed by history." Y'mean, * reads now? Wow, what an intellectual guy!

And this gem:"The White House expects a quick victory on Bush's Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito" Oh really? So its already a done deal even if over 60% of the public is unsure or undecided at this time?

Worst pResident ever!

[yurbud]

7. With Katrina and Tookie execution, return to scapegoating blacks

An old GOP stand by.

Bush's plan on immigration will only please business, not the toothless knuckle-draggers who make up the majority of his actual voters.

[yurbud]

8. "...and we must continue the war on steroids in professional sports..."

We must help more workers transition from high paying professional jobs to working the drive thru at McDonald's.

We must look at all the ways Walmart short-changes and exploits their workers, and help other businesses to follow their example.

We must continue to revere the democracy, freedom, and the Bill of Rights as symbols while ignoring the substance of the ideas and behaviors those words represent.