Bush's Failing Final Grade

[dtotire]

Bush's Failing Final Grade

The Harm He Caused His Party's Prospects Could Echo Beyond This Year's Election.

by Ronald Brownstein

Friday, Nov. 7, 2008

It detracts nothing from Barack Obama's achievement to note that his historic electoral success rests atop the epic political failure of George W. Bush. If Obama is shrewd enough, there's a lesson for the new president in the failure of the old one.

Bush and his chief political strategist, Karl Rove, dreamed of cementing a lasting Republican electoral majority. Instead, Bush has left his party in rubble.
The 2008 election represented a final grade on Bush's bruising and polarizing political strategy. To a degree unmatched by modern presidents, Bush governed more by mobilizing his base than by reaching out to voters and interests beyond it. His legislative strategy centered on minimizing dissent among congressional Republicans; his electoral strategy revolved around maximizing his vote among Republicans and conservative independents. On both fronts, his guiding principle was deepen, not broaden.

Only the most culturally conservative areas remain reliably red.

Through Bush's first term, that approach generated undeniable successes. The congressional Republican majority, demonstrating levels of party unity unequaled since around 1900, passed key elements of his agenda. A skillfully engineered surge in Republican turnout powered his re-election and GOP congressional gains in 2002 and 2004.

But through Bush's second term, this insular strategy grew unsustainable. By targeting so many of his policies toward the priorities of his conservative base, Bush ignited volcanic opposition from Democratic voters and steadily alienated independents. Because he had done so little to court voters beyond his ardent core, he lacked a well of good will to draw on when events turned against him, first with Katrina and Iraq, later with the economy. His disapproval rating soared to heights unsurpassed in modern polling.





More:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20081106_5653.php

[cutlassmama]

1. The Harm He Caused His Party's Prospects Could Echo Beyond This Year's Election.

Gee, ya think?

I think the article was VERY generous, almost right-wing. His Presidency will go down the history books as the biggest disaster to ever hit America.

[struggle4progress]

3. Nat'l J is, after all, the rag that always labels the D nominee "the most liberal"

[StClone]

2. "Through Bush's second term...

...this insular strategy grew unsustainable. By targeting so many of his policies toward the priorities of his conservative base, Bush ignited volcanic opposition..."

Opposition was there well before his second term. And despite being overwhelmingly against Bush's policies, it was the destructive force of those policies on his own supporters financially which turned the tide. The accumulative corrosive nature of neglect and draining the countries resources took our economy downhill. That is where McCain's campaign went down big time.

[ixion]

4. "Through Bush's first term, that approach generated undeniable successes."... BS

there was nothing "successful" about it. Bush got a bump on 911 and it dwindled away from there because he used national altruism as a tool to shred the constitution.

Creating an authoritarian atmosphere, much like Stalin's Russia is NOT "success". It is a tragedy.

Bush is a catastrophic failure. All the GOP had to do was look at his resume. Everything that putrid little man has ever touched has turned to sh*t.

[Stellabella]

5. Actually, it should read:

"The harm he caused this country and the world should echo beyond this year's election."