WP: Presidents Past Inspire Bush's Damage Control

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Presidents Past Inspire Bush's Damage Control

By Peter Baker and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Page A01

Facing a convergence of crises threatening his administration, President Bush and his team are devising plans to salvage the remainder of his presidency by applying the lessons of past two-term chief executives and refocusing attention on the president's larger economic and foreign policy goals.

Rarely has a president confronted as many damaging developments that could all come to a head in this week. A special counsel appears poised to indict one or more administration officials within days. Pressure is building on Bush from within his own party to withdraw the faltering Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers. And any day the death toll of U.S. troops in Iraq will pass the symbolically important 2,000 mark.


President Bush, with political adviser Karl Rove, declined to answer reporters' questions about the CIA leak investigation.


To deal with what they consider the darkest days of the Bush presidency, White House advisers have developed a twofold strategy -- confront head-on problems such as the Iraq death toll, while shifting attention to other areas such as conservative economic policies, according to a senior White House official, who spoke about internal deliberations only under the condition of anonymity. Bush advisers are taking clues from the playbooks of former presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, both of whom weathered second-term scandals.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/24/AR2005102402000.html

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