By Marsha Mercer
Media General News Service
Media General News Service
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WASHINGTON – A reporter asked President Bush at the end of his news conference last week if he still thinks Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic presidential nominee.
“I’m not talking about politics,” he said.
Oh, really?
That’s still the official presidential line, but George W. Bush appears to be itching to hit the campaign trail. Minutes before, he’d scolded Clinton and Barack Obama on several issues. It was like watching someone who hadn’t been invited to a debate rebut points from outside.
The man who’s not a presidential candidate has advice for those who are least likely to listen, but what’s a lame duck to do? It’s nearly impossible to get Congress to listen to anything he says. Besides, his predecessor is on the campaign trail every day, talking up his favorite candidate.
Reporters asked Bush about reopening NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both say they’d like to renegotiate parts of the law to get a better deal for American workers.
Bush said he’d heard the NAFTA talk, “And the idea of just unilaterally withdrawing from a trade treaty because of, you know, trying to score political points is not good policy…”
The president barely concealed his scorn when asked about Obama’s statement that he’d bring the troops home from Iraq, but if Al-Qaida were forming a base in Iraq, “then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad.”
Bush said, “It’s an interesting comment.” And then he pounced. “That’s exactly what they’ve been trying to do for the past four years,” he said.
Asked if Obama’s comments were naïve, Bush said, “I believe Senator Obama better stay focused on his campaign with Senator Clinton, neither of whom has secured their party’s nomination yet.”
And, lest anyone think he has written off the Preacher Huckabee, he said, “My party’s hasn’t been decided yet, either. And so there will be ample time to discuss … the positions of whoever their candidate is.”
But that didn’t stop him from criticizing Obama’s idea that the United States should consider meeting with the leaders of Iran and Cuba.
”Sitting down at the table, having your picture taken with a tyrant such as Raul Castro, for example, lends the status of the office and the status of our country to him,” Bush said. “He gains a lot from it by saying, ‘Look at me, I’m now recognized by the president of the United States.”
And he pooh-poohed the idea that meeting with an adversary could bring about needed change.
“It’s a theory that all you got to do is embrace and these tyrants act. That’s not how they act,” the president said.
Last fall, a flurry of news stories quoted Bush in a new book saying Clinton had the national presence to win the Democratic nomination. The loyal Republican also predicted the Republican nominee, whoever it turned out to be, would beat her in the general election.
He said the same thing in off-the-record conversations that reached the news media.
But that was long before the Obama phenomenon, before Obama swept 11 primaries in a row, before it looked like he had the momentum going into the make-or-break contests in Ohio and Texas next week.
You can’t blame Bush for not wanting to put more money on Clinton. Everybody has been wrong at least once in this campaign, and there’s no glory in trying to predict voter behavior this year.
There also may be a political calculation in not commenting on the race between Obama and Clinton. If, as some have speculated, he thinks Clinton would be the weaker of the two candidates in the fall, he may not want to jinx her in his home state.
When a reporter said he expected Bush would not want to comment on the Republicans’ prospects on the campaign trail, he shot back, “Not yet.”
The questioner wondered if, with the faltering economy the major issue for many voters, how Bush himself might fare if he were on the ballot in a state like Ohio.
“Landslide,” he deadpanned, spreading his arms as a victor.
He may be a lame duck, but he still likes to quack.
_______
What do you think? Comment below.
“I’m not talking about politics,” he said.
Oh, really?
That’s still the official presidential line, but George W. Bush appears to be itching to hit the campaign trail. Minutes before, he’d scolded Clinton and Barack Obama on several issues. It was like watching someone who hadn’t been invited to a debate rebut points from outside.
The man who’s not a presidential candidate has advice for those who are least likely to listen, but what’s a lame duck to do? It’s nearly impossible to get Congress to listen to anything he says. Besides, his predecessor is on the campaign trail every day, talking up his favorite candidate.
Reporters asked Bush about reopening NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both say they’d like to renegotiate parts of the law to get a better deal for American workers.
Bush said he’d heard the NAFTA talk, “And the idea of just unilaterally withdrawing from a trade treaty because of, you know, trying to score political points is not good policy…”
The president barely concealed his scorn when asked about Obama’s statement that he’d bring the troops home from Iraq, but if Al-Qaida were forming a base in Iraq, “then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad.”
Bush said, “It’s an interesting comment.” And then he pounced. “That’s exactly what they’ve been trying to do for the past four years,” he said.
Asked if Obama’s comments were naïve, Bush said, “I believe Senator Obama better stay focused on his campaign with Senator Clinton, neither of whom has secured their party’s nomination yet.”
And, lest anyone think he has written off the Preacher Huckabee, he said, “My party’s hasn’t been decided yet, either. And so there will be ample time to discuss … the positions of whoever their candidate is.”
But that didn’t stop him from criticizing Obama’s idea that the United States should consider meeting with the leaders of Iran and Cuba.
”Sitting down at the table, having your picture taken with a tyrant such as Raul Castro, for example, lends the status of the office and the status of our country to him,” Bush said. “He gains a lot from it by saying, ‘Look at me, I’m now recognized by the president of the United States.”
And he pooh-poohed the idea that meeting with an adversary could bring about needed change.
“It’s a theory that all you got to do is embrace and these tyrants act. That’s not how they act,” the president said.
Last fall, a flurry of news stories quoted Bush in a new book saying Clinton had the national presence to win the Democratic nomination. The loyal Republican also predicted the Republican nominee, whoever it turned out to be, would beat her in the general election.
He said the same thing in off-the-record conversations that reached the news media.
But that was long before the Obama phenomenon, before Obama swept 11 primaries in a row, before it looked like he had the momentum going into the make-or-break contests in Ohio and Texas next week.
You can’t blame Bush for not wanting to put more money on Clinton. Everybody has been wrong at least once in this campaign, and there’s no glory in trying to predict voter behavior this year.
There also may be a political calculation in not commenting on the race between Obama and Clinton. If, as some have speculated, he thinks Clinton would be the weaker of the two candidates in the fall, he may not want to jinx her in his home state.
When a reporter said he expected Bush would not want to comment on the Republicans’ prospects on the campaign trail, he shot back, “Not yet.”
The questioner wondered if, with the faltering economy the major issue for many voters, how Bush himself might fare if he were on the ballot in a state like Ohio.
“Landslide,” he deadpanned, spreading his arms as a victor.
He may be a lame duck, but he still likes to quack.
_______
What do you think? Comment below.