George W. Bush, the Salesman: Couldn't Sell Food to a Famine Victim

[Crankie Avalon]

July 23, 2007
‘A lousy salesman’

It’s a necessary evil tucked into the president’s job description: the chief executive is supposed to also be a good salesman. Presidents have a unique megaphone and bully pulpit, which they have to use effectively if they plan on getting what they want.

With that in mind, McClatchy’s Steven Thomma makes a good observation: Bush is really bad at this.

President Bush now has what he asked for — time to sell the people and the Congress on the Iraq war.

But an extra 60 days from Congress, the addition of the talented Ed Gillespie to run the White House communications strategy, and a newly ramped-up sales pitch cannot change the underlying fact: George Bush is a poor salesman.

He’s never really sold the country or Congress something it didn’t already want. And when he’s tried to sell something the people or the politicians didn’t want, he’s fallen flat.

That’s largely true. In fact, I’d argue that Thomma is pulling his punches when it comes to Bush’s sales ineptitude — as a rule, when the president starts pushing a policy, it not only fails, but also gets less popular. This president doesn’t just struggle to convince skeptics, he manages to make his product sound less appealing, even to those who might be inclined to agree with him.

First-term examples are less common, but the second term provides two gems: immigration and privatization of Social Security.

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/11559.html

[aquart]

1. Everything George has tried to sell has been poison.

No matter how pretty the package.