The 28 Percent President

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Wednesday, July 16, 2008; 12:13 PM

At his press conference yesterday, President Bush tried to emphasize the positive about the economy -- and his presidency. The financial system is "basically sound," he said. And he rejected the naysayers who say "aww, man, you're running out of time." But at the end of the day, Bush found himself overridden, ignored and disdained.

We'll start with disdained.

Jon Cohen blogs for The Washington Post: "Another month, another new low for George W. Bush: Just 28 percent in the new Post-ABC poll approve of the way the president is handling his job. This marks a new career low in Post polling, and is the 40th consecutive month his ratings have been under 50 percent.

"His negative rating has also hit a record, with 69 percent saying they disapprove of his job performance. And the percentage holding 'strongly' negative views is up to 56 percent, another new high, and nearly five times the number who 'strongly approve.'

"While most Republicans remain steadfastly behind the president, a third now disapprove, including two in 10 who strongly disapprove. This is the first time so many Republicans have expressed such sharply negative views of Bush's tenure. Strong disapproval among Democrats has also reached a new high in the poll, 81 percent."

Alan Fram writes for the Associated Press: "28 percent said they approve of the job Bush is doing, tying his low in the AP-Ipsos survey set last April. . . .

"Just 63 percent of Republicans and 46 percent of conservatives approved of Bush's handling of his job, strikingly low numbers. . . .

"With soaring fuel prices, ailing financial and housing markets and rising inflation, Bush got his lowest grade for handling the economy. Just 24 percent approved of how he's dealing with it, tying last month's AP-Ipsos low on that issue.

"Only half of Republicans gave Bush good grades on the economy, as did hardly any Democrats or independents."

Terence Hunt writes for the Associated Press: "This is hardly the way he wanted to go out. . . .

"As of Tuesday, Bush had 189 days before he walks out of the Oval Office for the last time. His term is ending with Americans on edge, the mood of the country sour."

A new New York Times/CBS poll shows Bush's approval at -- you guessed it -- 28 percent, with 65 percent disapproving. That's not an all-time low; a CBS poll in June found Bush approval at 25 percent. But approval on his handling of the economy, at 20 percent, does break the record.

And are you looking for a simple explanation of why John McCain is trailing Barack Obama in the polls? The AP poll finds that by a 2-1 margin, Americans believe McCain would generally continue Bush's economic policies. And by a more than 4-1 margin, they believe he would generally continue Bush's Iraq policies.

Ignored


Kenneth R. Bazinet and David Saltonsall write in the New York Daily News: "On a day that saw one economic bombshell after another, President Bush squinted, smirked and grimaced into the future Tuesday, declaring - contrary to a growing mountain of evidence - that the country's financial system is 'basically sound.'

"'I'm an optimist,' a sometimes testy Bush said in his first White House news conference since April. 'I believe there's a lot of positive things for our economy.'

"For all of Bush's bullishness, everyone from Wall Street kingpins to small-fry depositors seemed increasingly edgy as the U.S. economy hit one new low after another."

Maura Reynolds and Walter Hamilton write in the Los Angeles Times: "President Bush sought to calm the contagion of fear in financial markets Tuesday, but his upbeat tone was out of sync with a sobering new assessment from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, a jump in the prices manufacturers pay for raw materials and other unsettling economic portents."
David Lightman and Tony Pugh write for McClatchy Newspapers: "President Bush began Tuesday trying to calm consumers troubled by an increasingly shaky economy, but his words had little effect. . . .

"Even the administration's plan to support the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- hurriedly announced over the weekend -- didn't stem the tide. Both enterprises saw their stocks drop more than 25 percent.

"The turmoil -- the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day at 10,962, the first time it had closed below 11,000 in two years -- clouded Bush's effort to use his first news conference since April to provide reassurance."

Richard Wolf writes for USA Today "President Bush declared himself an optimist, not an economist, Tuesday -- and a good thing, too."

Wolf writes that Bush's expression of confidence in the economy is "a message that has been delivered by presidents before in times of economic trouble.

"'Herbert Hoover kept telling the country during the Depression that "things are sound, it's the usual business cycle, and it will turn in the right direction," ' presidential historian Robert Dallek said.

"'Presidents become desperate to reassure the nation that they have a handle on things,' Dallek said.

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