Richard Tafoya
Jan 28th, 2008, 08:34 PM
LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-assess29jan29,0,7709212.story
President Bush's State of the Union address on Monday was a reflection of the state of his presidency at the beginning of its final year: a short-term scramble for a long-term legacy.
A president who entered office in 2001 with promises to reform Social Security, immigration, and education policy now sees time running out on most of those goals. A president who prided himself on a long stretch of economic growth -- fueled, he said, by his tax cuts -- is now grappling with a sudden downturn that could cancel the earlier gains.
The most upbeat, soaring section of Bush's speech, ironically, was his description of progress in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- accomplishments whose durability remain in question, and for which few Americans seem to grant the president much credit.
"He's playing out his last year from a difficult position," observed Kenneth M. Duberstein, who was chief of staff during President Reagan's final year in office. "He has an economy that seems to be going downward, at least in the perception of the American people. He has an Iraq where people seem to say, 'The surge is working; so what?' And he has a popularity rating in the low 30s, which doesn't give you any margin for victory."
When Reagan, the last two-term Republican president, began his final year, he had the benefit of a rebounding economy and a foreign policy that was bearing fruit in an improved relationship with the Soviet Union, Duberstein recalled.
"The hand Bush has been dealt -- self-dealt, in part -- is not anywhere near as strong," he said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-assess29jan29,0,7709212.story
President Bush's State of the Union address on Monday was a reflection of the state of his presidency at the beginning of its final year: a short-term scramble for a long-term legacy.
A president who entered office in 2001 with promises to reform Social Security, immigration, and education policy now sees time running out on most of those goals. A president who prided himself on a long stretch of economic growth -- fueled, he said, by his tax cuts -- is now grappling with a sudden downturn that could cancel the earlier gains.
The most upbeat, soaring section of Bush's speech, ironically, was his description of progress in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- accomplishments whose durability remain in question, and for which few Americans seem to grant the president much credit.
"He's playing out his last year from a difficult position," observed Kenneth M. Duberstein, who was chief of staff during President Reagan's final year in office. "He has an economy that seems to be going downward, at least in the perception of the American people. He has an Iraq where people seem to say, 'The surge is working; so what?' And he has a popularity rating in the low 30s, which doesn't give you any margin for victory."
When Reagan, the last two-term Republican president, began his final year, he had the benefit of a rebounding economy and a foreign policy that was bearing fruit in an improved relationship with the Soviet Union, Duberstein recalled.
"The hand Bush has been dealt -- self-dealt, in part -- is not anywhere near as strong," he said.