WP: President Struggles to Regain His Pre-Hurricane Swagger

[kskiska]

Saturday, September 24, 2005; A01

(snip)

A president who roamed across the national and world stages with an unshakable self-assurance that comforted Republicans and confounded critics since 2001 suddenly finds himself struggling to reclaim his swagger. Bush's standing with the public -- and within the Republican Party -- has been battered by a failed Social Security campaign, violence in Iraq, and most recently Hurricane Katrina. His approval ratings, 42 percent in the most recent Washington Post-ABC poll, have never been lower.

A president who normally thrives on tough talk and self-assurance finds himself at what aides privately describe as a low point in office, one that is changing the psychic and political aura of the White House, as well as its distinctive political approach.

In small, sometimes subtle but unmistakable ways, the president and top aides sound less certain, more conciliatory and willing to do something they avoided in the first term: admit mistakes. After bulling through crisis after crisis with a "bring 'em on" brashness, a more solemn Bush now has twice taken responsibility for the much-criticized response to Hurricane Katrina.

Aides who never betrayed self-doubt now talk in private of failures selling the American people on the Iraq war, the president's Social Security plan and his response to Hurricane Katrina. The president who once told the United Nations it would drift into irrelevancy if it did not back the invasion of Iraq last week praised the world body and said the world works better "when we act together." A White House team that operated on its terms since 2000 is reaching to outside experts for answers like never before.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/23/AR2005092302182.html

[iconoclastic cat]

1. Instead of "swagger," he's going for "stagger."

[Systematic Chaos]

2. You beat me to it!

:toast:

[rppper]

21. baaahaaahaaa.....i was thinking that same thought....

the white house staff better start hiding those bottles of J&B and jim beam better.......

[rwenos]

3. It's Impossible Not to Enjoy This

What arrogance! "Bring it on!"

I've been asking myself since the Iraq invasion how this cold-blooded frat brat SLEEPS at night, when those Americans are dying, the blood essence of their lives vaporized in the hot, dry Iraqi desert.

There are some things one can never forgive. This little twit's lip service to the War Dead is one of them.

I will never meet the man, but if I did I'd have to ask him that -- how he sleeps at night, thinking of the faces of those dead 22 year old Americans.

Of such fury hatred is born.

[Erika]

5. Of such fury, rebellion is born

The majority of U.S. citizens are totally sick of W. He's harmed this country for decades.

[rwenos]

11. From Your Lips

to God's ears.

I live in California 36. I have a Democratic member of Congress, two Democratic Senators, and the Democratic delegation to Congress from California has increased every election since 1992.

Aside from electing a Democratic governor, there's not much else to do, just by voting.

The frustration is palpable. Sometimes I just want to SCREAM.

[opihimoimoi]

7. The Other 59 Million peeps are also to blame....by voting for the Fraud...

[rodeodance]

16. "Laura Bush was among those counseling Bush to change his cowboy image "

.....Since the election, this official said, White House aides reported that during the final four years.......

[rodeodance]

4. whow==what a headline!

[rodeodance]

6. mission: restoring strength and confidence in his presidency.....(solution

for bushco is to have more photops where he looks to be 'engaged' caring, interested. etc etc. He is so hopeless (and stupid folk will suck it in).


President Struggles to Regain His Pre-Hurricane Swagger


By Jim VandeHei and Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, September 24, 2005; Page A01



COLORADO SPRINGS, Sept. 23 -- President Bush flew here ahead of Hurricane Rita on Friday to show command of a federal disaster response effort that even supporters acknowledge he fumbled three weeks ago.

The president said he wanted to see the emergency response system from the ground floor at U.S. Northern Command headquarters. "I need to understand how it works better," he told reporters before leaving Washington. But Bush was also embarking on a broader, and possibly more important, mission: restoring strength and confidence in his presidency.....

[rodeodance]

9. "Most of all, White House aides want to reestablish Bush's swagger" I

find this a toss up betweeen utter stupidity and saddness!!


......Most of all, White House aides want to reestablish Bush's swagger -- the projection of competence and confidence in the White House that has carried the administration through tough times since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks......

[rodeodance]

14. "no loss of confidence within the Bush team."---but no swagger!!

......Still, Bush's allies said any stumbles are anomalies and changes in tones momentary. They note, for instance, that the administration is still winning political victories, such as the likely confirmation of the president's nominee for chief justice, John G. Roberts Jr.

"You adapt to the circumstances and the circumstances are different," said Mark McKinnon, Bush's political consultant and friend. But he added he detected no loss of confidence within the Bush team. "I get zero sense of that. This is an administration and a president that are like the Marines -- they're used to taking the beach, they're used to getting shelled. But they dig in and they do their jobs."

McKinnon said if anything Bush thrives under the pressure. "I've never seen the president burdened by the presidency," he said. "He's built to deal with really big events. It's in his DNA."

Baker reported from Washington.

[Buns_of_Fire]

23. "...Bush thrives under the pressure."

Yeah, right. When the going gets tough, the "tough" go bananas.

"He's built to deal with really big events." Sure he is. All that bicycling builds up the legs. The better to run away with, my dear.

How the boosh* cultists prefer "swagger" to "quiet competence" just amazes me. Sure, "swagger" works well on the playground for a while -- but only until the bully is decked by that little dormouse who decided he's just not gonna take it anymore.

[opihimoimoi]

10. How is the President gonna learn in 4 hours what takes 4 months???

for the average dude working there. They go through training just to get there.

[Mend]

25. the "Swigger" is here....eom

[Gloria]

8. "Failures of selling" vs failures of the shitty policies---they are still

totally out of touch...

He should take his swagger and go f*ck himself.....

[rodeodance]

12. Kristol said it started with the failed SS campaign. I think he is right.

.....William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, said the psychological turnabout started with the failed Social Security campaign, billed as the number one domestic priority six months ago. "The negative effect of the Social Security is underestimated," Kristol said. "Once you make that kind of mistake, people tend to be less deferential to your decisions." This coincided with a growing number of Republicans losing faith in Bush's war plan, as Republicans such as Sens. Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) openly questioned the president's strategy.

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. Rejoinders like "I won't get in the way" aren't helping too much.

He needs another Uday and Qusay to kick the shit out of and make him look like he is decisive.

[rodeodance]

15. "Part of the reason they looked so good is Democrats were so discombobulat

.....A top Republican close to the White House since the earliest days said the absence of a "reelection target" and pressure from first lady Laura Bush and others to soften his second-term tone conspired to temper Bush's swagger well before Katrina hit. "A reelection campaign was always the driving principle to force them to get things together," said the GOP operative, who would speak candidly about Bush only if his name was not used. He said the "brilliance of this team" was always overstated. "Part of the reason they looked so good is Democrats were so discombobulated." Since the election, this official said, White House aides reported that Laura Bush was among those counseling Bush to change his cowboy image during the final four years.

[rodeodance]

17. "The term "strong leader" appears in at least 98 speeches" If he repeats

over and over what a strong leader he is-people will believe.


.....Bush likes to say his job is to make tough decisions and leave the hand-wringing for historians and pundits. He almost never entertains public doubt, which is part of the White House design to build a more powerful presidency. The term "strong leader" appears in at least 98 speeches he has given during his White House years, according to a database search, and was the subtext of his 2004 campaign strategy. He favors provocative language, declaring that he wanted Osama bin Laden "dead or alive" and taunting Iraqi insurgents to "bring 'em on.".....

[argyl]

18. "I need to understand how it works better" he says of the emergency

response system. This guy's got an Ivy League education?

[tularetom]

19. The swagger ain't coming back

The strong decisive leader image was a totally bogus creation of a party propaganda machine aided and enabled by a compliant press. The actions of the "strong decisive leader" are so at odds with the image that finally, all but the dumbest dumbasses have seen through it. He may try to project the macho image but too many people remember his inabiility to act in even one of the many crises that seem to have accompanyed his unfortunate presidency. He is reduced to joke status, fodder for late night comedians.

[Talismom]

20. It's effing about time! I've been waiting and wondering when the

mainstream would start to see thru the "costume party" and proclaim that the emperor had no clothes. It's seemed to take forever!

[Skittles]

22. and all it took was 1900 dead soldiers and the loss of New Orleans

f***ing assholes

[justgamma]

24. Bottom line. People ain't buying his Bushit. n/t

[yellowcanine]

26. Maybe he could "dress up" in a different macho outfit everyday until he

gets his swagger back. Gary Trudeau is going to have a field day with this. Remember when he had poppy looking for his manhood?

[Demeter]

27. Too Bad Today's Lesson Is Humility and Responsibility

Swagger is for idiots who want to be taken down a peg or three. Not the mark of any kind of a leader.

Tomorrow's Lesson is Competence: Reality-Based Action

You'd think a man would have learned these things before 60!

[cassiepriam]

28. This means he could be more dangerous than ever.

As his defenses crumble and he starts facing reality.

[longship]

29. Let's fire up the INews 5000 Headline Translator.

"President Struggles to Regain His Pre-Hurricane Swagger"

Bloop, bleep, blump, breep, sproing, DING!!

Translation: "President Chuggles to Regain His Pre-Presidential Stagger"


(With apologies to Air America Radio's Morning Sedition.)

[onager]

30. Bwah! Get me Karen Hughes and a BIG bottle of booze!

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: