So Newsweek says that 50% of the country wants Bush's first term to be his only term, and 44% want to give him another chance. His overall approval rating is steady, boosted by reports of an improving economy, but the Iraq thing is hurting him. Still, when pitted against actual, as opposed to hypothetical, Democrats — even Dean and Clark — Bush comes out ahead.
So yeah, great, people are upset with him because the war in Iraq isn't going well. But things could still change. The economy could get better and the resistence could die down. Where would that leave us folks who want to get Bush out of there?
The thing is, though, it would be wonderful if the economy did get better, and if we could get Iraq on the road to stability, maybe there'd be some hope, and the rest of the world wouldn't hate us quite as much as they do now.
It still wouldn't make Bush a good president though. Because after reading Bushwhacked, it's pretty clear to me that with or without "the war on terrorism", and any ups and downs in the economy, even though he's not dumb as dirt like everyone likes to joke... none of this matters. He's still terrible for the country. The appointments made, the safety regulations removed, the financial regulations mocked, the science ignored, the people hurt... this was all happening before those planes headed for the World Trade Center and gave this administration a great excuse to play soldiers.
So now it's just a matter of convincing a couple of hundred million voters! (Yikes!)
--> "Poll: 50 percent of voters would not re-elect Bush; But job approval rating remains constant", CNN, November 10, 2003, www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/ 11/10/elec04.poll.bush/index.html
--> "An Early Assessment By Leading Presidential Scholars of George W. Bush's Presidency: Part One", FindLaw, November 7, 2003, writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20031107.html
