Salon: The poseur in chief

[Snellius]

Aug. 1, 2003 | Rep. Dick Gephardt made his best and perhaps his only significant contribution to defeating George Bush in 2004 last month, when he derided the president's "bring 'em on" challenge to Iraqi attacks on American forces. "Enough of the phony macho rhetoric," Gephardt shot back. The Missouri Democrat's line was more than just padded flight-suit envy. His jibe hints at the strategy that could put a Democrat back in the White House: convincing Americans that Bush is a phony.

The Democrats can only win if they succeed in undermining the president's greatest strength: his credibility as a decisive and authentic wartime leader. The problem is that in such uncertain times many Americans instinctively can't and don't want to believe that George Bush is screwing them. Until the Democrats change how voters view Bush the man, and then link that to a broader critique of his administration, the Democrats will have a hard time punching through.
...
Bush's image as a regular guy has helped to obscure the fact that he is an insider with close connections to big business and a natural interest in protecting them. To turn this around, Democrats can use the "phony" message as a nexus to explain the contradiction. How can the everyman who stumbles on his words and has a traveling pillow be the same fellow whose tax cuts leave nothing to poor families with kids? How can a champion of personal responsibility and born-again asceticism engineer such unsustainable budget deficits? How can a leader who claims to be the first White House CEO engage in the kind of shoddy handouts to corporate backers in Iraq that shareholders would never tolerate in a business leader? How can a president so determined to wage the war on terrorism be the same president who starves state and local authorities of critical funds for homeland security? How can the commander in chief so concerned about terrorists getting hold of nuclear weapons be the same leader who leaves Iraqi nuclear sites unattended for weeks?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2003/08/01/phony/

[muchacho]

1. subscription

Not all of us have one for Salon.

[KoKo]

3. Muchaco, get their free one day pass, you just have to read an ad for a

minute. You can come back and read anything during that one day pass.

[tpub]

2. "phony" - this is a great idea

this will be my new letter to the editor strategy: calling out Bush as a phony. We should all pick up on this one!

[rocktivity]

4. "...Americans instinctively can't and don't want to believe

...that George Bush is screwing them."

Right--nobody enjoys admitting they've been screwed, and solving a problem is tantamount to admitting that you had one. But between Uraniumgate and the terrorism futures market, we've reached the point of no return with Georgie--he's become indefensible. Calling him a phony isn't going to be enough--the message has to be that he's self-serving at best, an unbalanced danger at worst, and that keeping him around is nothing short of socicoeconomic suicide.



rocknation

[chaumont58]

5. Prediction: this won't be done

I haven't read the article, but I think calling Bush the phony and dumby he is is a winning strategy. However, I think people like Mark Penn and Stan Greenberg would through hissy fits if Dems tried to tell the truth about Bush. Penn and Greenberg make money off furthering the myth that Bush is a superman politician.

[bryant69]

6. Most compelling part of this article

Is the reminder that they have done far worse to us, and will do far worse to whoever the Democrats nominate.

Plus the critique is a fair one.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[11cents]

7. Interesting quote

"The world expects something more of an American president than to prance around on a flight deck dressed up like pilot. He’s expected to be a leader. That’s my fundamental issue with it. It doesn’t reflect the gravitas of the office. Furthermore, it’s a little phony."

-- Wesley Clark

[tpub]

8. Nice! I like it--n/t