Bush meets the press
I caught most of Bush’s Meet the Press appearance, and was neither overwhelmed nor underwhelmed. Let’s face it — this is not his best format, and there were definitely a few moments when I winced. That said, it was a pretty competent performance. Glenn Reynolds has a reaction roundup, but I find it telling that ...
I caught most of Bush's Meet the Press appearance, and was neither overwhelmed nor underwhelmed. Let's face it -- this is not his best format, and there were definitely a few moments when I winced. That said, it was a pretty competent performance. Glenn Reynolds has a reaction roundup, but I find it telling that both Josh Marshall and Brad DeLong grudgingly concede that Bush did OK. [UPDATE/CORRECTION: Brad doesn't think Bush did well as much as Russert did poorly; Josh, after seeing the whole thing, thinks "he and his advisors made a mistake scheduling this interview." Two things struck me overall. First, the word that kept ringing in my ears was "context." Bush used it six times during the hour. I don't think that's an accident -- he's trying to frame his decision-making to the voters. His response to the "no WMD" question is twofold -- 1) We're better off without Saddam anyway; 2) In context, the intelligence looked solid and sensible. Whether this works remains to be seen. Second, I found his response to Russert's last question, "Biggest issues in the upcoming campaign?" to be revealing:
I caught most of Bush’s Meet the Press appearance, and was neither overwhelmed nor underwhelmed. Let’s face it — this is not his best format, and there were definitely a few moments when I winced. That said, it was a pretty competent performance. Glenn Reynolds has a reaction roundup, but I find it telling that both Josh Marshall and Brad DeLong grudgingly concede that Bush did OK. [UPDATE/CORRECTION: Brad doesn’t think Bush did well as much as Russert did poorly; Josh, after seeing the whole thing, thinks “he and his advisors made a mistake scheduling this interview.” Two things struck me overall. First, the word that kept ringing in my ears was “context.” Bush used it six times during the hour. I don’t think that’s an accident — he’s trying to frame his decision-making to the voters. His response to the “no WMD” question is twofold — 1) We’re better off without Saddam anyway; 2) In context, the intelligence looked solid and sensible. Whether this works remains to be seen. Second, I found his response to Russert’s last question, “Biggest issues in the upcoming campaign?” to be revealing:
Who can properly use American power in a way to make the world a better place, and who understands that the true strength of this country is the hearts and souls of the American citizens, who understands times are changing and how best to have policy reflect those times.
First response was foreign policy. Despite the WMD imbroglio, that’s still Bush’s comparative strength compared to a Democratic challenger. Which leads to an intriguing paradox. The more successful Bush’s foreign policy is, the more secure Americans will feel, and the more the economy will become issue #1 — which could put Bush at a disadvantage. The less successful Bush’s foreign policy is, the less secure Americans will feel, and the more national security becomes issue #1 — which could put Bush at an advantage. Obviously, if the security situation collapses, Bush will lose. But the overall relationship between Bush’s foreign policy and Bush’s political standing is decidedly nonlinear. UPDATE: David Adesnik has the best summary analysis I’ve seen.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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