Today's Politico.com (link below) reports that Obama and his minions at the White House intend to make George W. Bush (who else, right?) a focal point of their rhetoric as they campaign for congressional dems prior to November's mid-term elections. But is this really such a smart strategy? As Politico reports:"It's not clear that voters still want to hear it. 'If you're the leader of a large corporation and you're in power for a year and a half and you start off a meeting with your shareholders by blaming your predecessor, that wouldn't go over very well,' said Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University. 'This is a very weak approach. And I can't imagine it having an impact on these very swing voters.' Some Democrats would like Obama to shift his argument."
Hear hear. For many of us Independents, the "blame Bush" rhetoric and constant "we inherited this mess" blasts got old from this president around February 2009. And it sure as hell ain't gonna resonate this summer and fall. Instead, at least for me, every time I hear that stuff, I'm reminded of the moment in the 1984 presidential debate when Reagan famously told Walter Mondale, "There you go again" -- since that's exactly how I feel about this type of tired and almost mindless rhetoric. In short, big yawn, big turnoff. As I've commented in this space previously, dems will probably still be blaming Bush for this, that and the other long after all of us alive today have passed on to our just rewards. And it will be just as "weak" (to quote the Emory prof) then as it is now.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37631.html
Posts
