BUSH YEARS FORGOTTEN

	Sunday » August 31 » 2008
BUSH YEARS FORGOTTEN Even though George Bush's approval numbers remain low, they might be willing to cut John McCain some slack at the convention Steven Edwards Canwest News Service Friday, August 29, 2008 CREDIT: CNS 'Perhaps the best thing Bush can do is to admit at long last, that there may have been some mistakes along the way - and any gesture like that could score some points for McCain as the president also reaches out to conservatives to reassure them he is worth fighting for in the general election,' said Costas Panagopoulos of New York's Fordham University. ST. PAUL, Minn. - Senator John McCain faces the delicate task of accepting the political baton from George W. Bush while maintaining a certain distance from the departing U.S. president as the Republican national convention begins Monday. Bush was set to speak on the first day of the four-day gathering at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn., and what he says will be keenly noted by Democratic strategists as they seek to brand a McCain presidency as a continuation of the Bush White House. With Bush's approval ratings among the lowest of any sitting president, such a label is seen by supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, as political ballast that will sink McCain. But despite the unpopularity of many key Bush administration policies, electorates can react in surprising ways. McCain's strategists hope Bush will navigate a fine line between shoring up the traditionally maverick Republican's credentials with the party's still-wary conservative wing, while leaving him room to compete against Obama for the backing of independents. "Voters tend to see the past through rose-coloured glasses, and even though Bush's approval numbers remain low, they might be willing to cut him some slack at the convention, given that his term as president is coming to an end," said Costas Panagopoulos, director of the Center for Electoral Politics and Democracy at New York's Fordham University. "Perhaps the best thing Bush can do is to admit at long last, that there may have been some mistakes along the way - and any gesture like that could score some points for McCain as the president also reaches out to conservatives to reassure them he is worth fighting for in the general election." Bush administration officials quietly have been respecting just such a strategy, saying little even in the face of McCain camp criticism of the White House record - such as occurred in a television ad that suggested the country had slipped over the past four years. What's more, Bush and McCain have barely been seen together for months, and the president will have returned to Washington by the time the Arizona senator arrives at the convention ahead of his nomination acceptance speech towards the close of the event Thursday. Also speaking on the first day - before departing - will be Vice-President Dick Cheney, said to have been one of the most influential presidential deputies in U.S. history, and the personally popular first lady, Laura Bush. Many conservative Republicans openly questioned McCain's suitability as their party's nominee during the primary, disdainful of his diverging stance from their positions on several social and other themes. A newly emerged draft of the party's 2008 platform, which will be debated during the convention, contains differences with McCain on issues including immigration, stem-cell research and climate change. But Panagopoulos says Republicans as a whole, recognize that a split during the convention is "too big of a risk." "Party platforms are very important for a small group of activists at conventions," he added. "Beyond that, voters rarely know what's included in party platforms, and candidates rarely endorse every plank in them." The Republican primary wasn't nearly as divisive as the Democratic one between Obama and New York Senator Hillary Clinton. And illustrating how contentious that fight became, a television ad paid for by the Clinton camp suggesting Obama remains unready for America's top political job is now being used by the McCain campaign against the Democratic nominee. So too, is Clinton's comment last March that Obama's experience amounts to little more than a "speech he gave in 2002" - while McCain's is abundant. In a hint that the Republican convention will be filled with more such attacks, scheduled speakers Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, and Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, have already hit media circuits, arguing Democratic divisions continue. Giuliani, who himself competed in the Republican primary, seized on Clinton's address Tuesday endorsing Obama at the Democratic party convention in Denver. While Clinton's handlers said the speech showed that unity was now the watchword, some commentators said it failed to examine Obama's leadership qualities or record. "I think she gave a very good speech from her point of view and our point of view, but not necessarily Barack Obama's point of view," Giuliani told Fox News. "She never really answered the key question, 'Is he prepared to be president?' Which is the issue she put out there, rather dramatically, during the primaries." Romney, who was runner-up to McCain in the Republican primary, flew to Denver to argue that Obama was unfit for election. "Barack Obama is a charming and fine person. He has a loving family," he told journalists. "But he's not ready to be president." It could be that some of the mud is sticking as a flurry of polls in the days ahead of Obama's acceptance speech Thursday showed McCain inching ahead of his Democratic rival after trailing. Indeed, the brief turnaround - though reversed in the wake of Obama's speech - is likely to boost Republican morale at the convention. "What it means is that Republicans can turn up with a bit more optimism than they have had for a long time," said David Epstein, a political-science professor at Columbia University. "They had slumped shoulders for most of the spring and summer as polls showing them down, and (their own) lack of enthusiasm about the candidate made you sometimes think they were going to surrender without a fight. But now they will see chinks in the armour of the Obama phenomenon, and some possible route into what could be a successful campaign against him." It's a safe bet to say the Republican convention will not reach the same levels of razzmatazz as the Democratic one, which concluded with Obama addressing a crowd of about 84,000 from a set flanked by Greek columns that was meant to invoke the White House. McCain - who turned 72 on Friday - is sure to use his acceptance speech to invoke his ordeal as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, something he often does to demonstrate his patriotism. He even used it in recent days to counter Obama's sniping over the number of houses he owns with his wife Cindy, a wealthy heiress to a beer distributorship. Obama had accused the Arizona senator of being out of touch with ordinary people after he was unable to say in an interview how many properties they own. "I spent five-and-a-half years in a prison cell without . . . I didn't have a house," he told Jay Leno in a recent appearance on the Tonight Show. A bid to inject some star power into the start of the convention will come with an address by actor-turned-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. In a dig at the Democratic party, Joe Lieberman, elected an independent senator for Connecticut after the Democratic party machine prevented him from again running under its banner because of his support for the war in Iraq, also will speak. "There are several things that every convention does - such as introduce their candidates, and start sounding themes for the November election," said Epstein. "McCain has less work to do introducing himself, compared to Obama, since he is more of a fixture on the national stage, but he'll have more work to do defining himself as separate from Bush - the millstone around his neck." McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate could lead some of Hillary Clinton's former supporters to vote for the Republican ticket, some analysts say. Still, the "fundamentals favour Obama tremendously," said Panagopoulos, as majority dissatisfaction with the Bush administration and concerns about the economy and general direction of the country suggest voters seek change - which happens to be Obama's buzzword. "The fact that (some recent) polls are so close right now may reflect Democratic weakness as much as Republican strength," he explained. "For many voters, the jury is still out on Barack Obama because there are still questions about his experience, while the Republicans have chosen someone who can reach out and appeal to moderates. "It means it will be a very close general election." © Canwest News Service 2008

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