WP: The 28 Percent President
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
At his press conference yesterday, President Bush tried to emphasize the positive about the economy -- and his presidency. The financial system is "basically sound," he said. And he rejected the naysayers who say "aww, man, you're running out of time." But at the end of the day, Bush found himself overridden, ignored and disdained.
We'll start with disdained.
DISDAINED
Jon Cohen blogs for The Washington Post: "Another month, another new low for George W. Bush: Just 28 percent in the new Post-ABC poll approve of the way the president is handling his job. This marks a new career low in Post polling, and is the 40th consecutive month his ratings have been under 50 percent....
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And are you looking for a simple explanation of why John McCain is trailing Barack Obama in the polls? The AP poll finds that by a 2-1 margin, Americans believe McCain would generally continue Bush's economic policies. And by a more than 4-1 margin, they believe he would generally continue Bush's Iraq policies....
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IGNORED
Kenneth R. Bazinet and David Saltonsall write in the New York Daily News: "On a day that saw one economic bombshell after another, President Bush squinted, smirked and grimaced into the future Tuesday, declaring - contrary to a growing mountain of evidence - that the country's financial system is 'basically sound.' 'I'm an optimist,' a sometimes testy Bush said in his first White House news conference since April. 'I believe there's a lot of positive things for our economy.' For all of Bush's bullishness, everyone from Wall Street kingpins to small-fry depositors seemed increasingly edgy as the U.S. economy hit one new low after another."...
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OVERRIDDEN
David Stout writes in the New York Times: "President Bush cast a futile veto on Tuesday, rejecting a bill that would protect doctors from cuts in their Medicare payments. But hours later, the House and Senate voted to override the veto, making the Medicare measure the fourth bill to become legislation over Mr. Bush's opposition."...David Rogers and Patrick O'Connor write for Politico: "From Medicare to mortgages, President Bush's lame-duck status is more and more evident in Congress, as restless Republicans defect and power shifts to activist Cabinet members, such as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, willing to engage with Democrats."...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/07/16/BL2008071601516_pf.html
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