Bush's Last Stand
Seems 43 has one more campaign left in him.
At her daily briefing this morning, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was giving a matter-of-fact preview of the Obamas's visit to the White House this afternoon ("the conversation will include topics such as raising a family in the White House") when CNN's Elaine Quijano asked about how the "heated rhetoric on the campaign trail" might affect the dynamic of the conversation.
"It's always amazed me how President Bush is able to let heated rhetoric like that just slide off his back," Perino replied. She said Bush "studiously stayed out of" the campaign, "even when it was very hard for us sometimes to let attacks go unanswered."
Now, however, Bush has a different plan. "In the next few weeks, I think you'll be able to see us revisit some of those issues and put a marker down for history what this president stood for and why he made the decisions that he did."
And who knows? If he does a really good job of it, Bush might be able to boost his support level all the way up to 30 percent.
Meantime, we have this update from the intrepid Zeleny, who has moved on to become the New York Times's traffic and transportation reporter today:
"President-elect Obama left the gym at 9:25 am -- after 1 hour and 20 minutes inside the Regents Park apartment building -- for a quick ride back to his house." (Zeleny evidently didn't learn about whether the president-elect showered.) "The motorcade left Hyde Park at 10:05, en route to O'Hare, slowed along the way by heavy traffic west of the Loop. He arrived to the Signature Aviation entrance of the field at 10:45 a.m., where an American Airlines plane was waiting. Gone is the campaign plane that ferried Mr. Obama across the country -- and the world -- for months. The temporary plane, for this ride at least, is a Boeing Super-80. . . The flight is 1 hour, 17 minutes."
It was another ominous sign for those expecting sweeping change from Obama. When President-elect Bush made his trip to Washington from Waco, Texas, after the Supreme Court elected him president in 2000, he flew on . . an American Airlines jet.
By Dana Milbank |
November 10, 2008; 12:35 PM ET
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Posted by: chiquita2 | November 10, 2008 1:08 PM
FWIW Lockheed got the Contract for the Bush Library with NARA (GO FIGURE!!!)
Figuring his Hands OFF, 3 - 3 months vacations a year, and Bushisms
...You kinda wonder what will go in it
AND
For that matter who would want to visit it?
BUT
IT should be a great example of how not to say complete sentences.
THAT IS
if when Bush was ever able to connect the thoughts writen for him.
OTHERWISE
you may see a buch of Crayon Drawings of his art work.
Posted by: Fei_Hu | November 10, 2008 1:25 PM
dana perino is hot
Posted by: Obama--08 | November 10, 2008 2:47 PM
Who better than Boeing who gets so much Fed money we should consider them a nationalized company?
American Airlines? Pssshhhh they charge for pillows on a 10 hour flight. Who willingly subjects themselves to that?
Posted by: theobserver4 | November 10, 2008 3:31 PM
Here are my takes on the news.
So "Bush is able to let heated rhetoric like that just slide off his back" - too incurious to notice.
If Bush "does a really good job of it, Bush might be able to boost his support level all the way up to 30 percent" - does anyone really think that there is still a chance for such a "high" rating even at such a late day?
As for the flight, don't forget at the time the "Mission was accomplished", Bush "flew" and "landed" a fighter jet on the deck of an aircraft carrier, a figher jet he has never been trained to fly. Wow, what a top gun! May I suggest that he again flies a fighter jet - one that he had been trained for - to Crawford when he exits?
Posted by: steviana | November 10, 2008 5:42 PM
If only Bush hadn't stopped drinking...
Posted by: svreader | November 10, 2008 6:26 PM
Will the bashing ever end? I feel fortunate to know that my fellow Americans can continue to make such disparaging remarks about our president. However, I also feel sad that there are so many close minded Americans that don’t see what this president has done for our country. I truly believe that ever president has goes into the office believing they are going to do the people’s business. They are going to make our country better. Yes, even President Clinton, who at times seemed to use the position as a means to get laid. President Clinton tried to use our military air power to wage a war without putting our servicemen in harms way. It didn’t work but he tried. He fired cruse missiles in Afghanistan and an aspirin factory in an effort to rid the world of UBL. Well, it didn’t work. But he did try. President Bush was in a position of having to retaliate against the man whose organization caused our nation a lot of pain. People around the world rejoiced at the tragedy. This reaction could hardly be blamed on President Bush; it should not be blamed on the foreign policy of President Clinton. This action can only be blamed on those nuts that no matter what our country does they will hate us. Hate us simply because we have an open society that wants every other country in the world to be successful. Their economic success provides us with success.
Those who infer that Boeing, Lockheed, or any of the other large military contractors simply don’t understand the invaluable service they provide this country. Who else has stepped up to provide services to our country? It doesn’t matter who it is because the same people that don’t understand the relationship between these military contractors and the military will bad mouth whom ever steps up to help. We live in a capitalist society and these companies need to make money to continue to serve our needs. KBR stepped up and they were crucified by the drive by media. They are not perfect. It would be nice if we didn’t have to bribe Americans to enter the military service. No one wants a draft. No one wants to serve unless there is something in it for them. Where is JKF when you need him?
There is a call for increasing the Army end strength by 74,000. How many $30-$40K signing bonuses will that cost? The new president cannot do it alone. Let’s hope de didn’t really mean all the things he promised to get elected. He will not be able to do it alone. Whether you agree with his politics or not he will be running the show and we need to hope he succeeds for our country’s future.
Posted by: VictorHarris | November 11, 2008 10:10 AM
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Dana, who writes these tag lines from the home page? You don't mention the "library" anywhere. I think they meant to say "legacy." Sheesh.