Apparently Bush and Rove are going to nationalize the midterms and make Iraq the top issue - a bold strategy, but really risky:
Peter Wallsten and Maura Reynolds write in the Los Angeles Times: "The Iraq war is the most immediate foreign policy problem besetting the Bush administration. But as a political issue, the White House and top Republican strategists have concluded that the war is a clear winner.
"GOP officials intend to base the midterm election campaign partly on talking up the war, using speeches and events to contrast President Bush's policies against growing disagreement among leading Democrats over whether to support immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops.
"Bush's surprise visit to Baghdad on Tuesday -- and a lengthy Rose Garden news conference Wednesday in which he extolled the new Iraqi government -- mark the beginning of a planned months-long effort, which got an unexpected boost with the death last week of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. . . .
"Ed Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman and a key White House advisor, conceded Wednesday that protracted violence in Iraq and voters' rising doubts 'have had a dampening effect on the president's approval rating.' But, he said, given a choice between Democrats' uncertainty and Bush's firmness, 'that choice favors us.'"
Mark Silva writes in the Chicago Tribune: "With his insistence that the war in Iraq is 'worth it' and his unwavering promise of success there, President Bush is trying to frame congressional elections this November as a contest between a Republican Party resolute on the war in Iraq and a Democratic Party riven by divisions.
"The president is unlikely to change many minds among opponents of the war after more than three costly years of battles and with violence certain to continue, analysts say. Instead, the full arsenal of public relations weaponry that Bush has deployed this week--a Camp David war summit and a surprise visit to Baghdad, followed by a Rose Garden news conference Wednesday--appears aimed more at stirring the Republican base for political battles ahead." |
