Bush's bad week.
Bush's Efforts to Offset Clarke Stymied
Republicans Say Administration Struggling for Momentum After Ex-Aide's Assertions
By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 28, 2004; Page A23
CRAWFORD, Tex., March 27 -- President Bush's intense efforts to neutralize the revelations of former national security official Richard A. Clarke have yet to succeed, leaving White House officials struggling to regain political momentum after a tumultuous week, according to interviews with Republicans both inside and outside the administration.
One Bush aide, who refused to be identified because the administration limits who may speak on the record, acknowledged that the White House had underestimated the political and media firestorm that Clarke would ignite. Beginning with interviews in connection with his new book and continuing with Capitol Hill testimony, Clarke said he had watched Bush repeatedly ignore warnings about al Qaeda before Sept. 11, 2001, then diverted resources from the broader war on terrorism for an attack on Iraq.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who rode in Bush's limousine during a presidential visit to Phoenix on Friday, said the Clarke counterattack was "the most vigorous offensive I've ever seen from the administration on any issue.
"These attacks go to the heart of the strength of the president, and they felt it had to be put down and put down quickly," McCain said. "Whether they'll succeed or not is unclear."
Bush officials said they had hoped to use his public events during these weeks to overhaul his economic message and raise public awareness about indications of a burgeoning recovery. Instead, the White House has been consumed by defending Bush's handling of the war on terrorism, the bedrock on which he planned to build his case for reelection.
Polling has shown that Clarke's assertions have resonated as more than mere Beltway sniping and that voters are beginning to question the president's handling of terrorism.
A Newsweek poll released Saturday found that public approval of Bush's handling of terrorism and homeland security had eroded, with his approval rating on those issues dropping to 57 percent from 65 percent just over a month ago. It was 70 percent two months ago. However, 65 percent said Clarke's testimony had not affected their opinion of Bush.
Officials in both parties agreed that if Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) were able to pull even on those issues, the president's prospects would dim considerably. But Bush-Cheney campaign officials expressed relief that the Newsweek poll, taken Thursday and Friday, found that Kerry had failed to capitalize on Bush's woes. Bush's overall approval rating was statistically unchanged, at 49 percent, and he remained in a dead heat with Kerry. The poll, of 1,002 adults, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The poll showed Bush maintaining a strong showing on the intangible qualities that have always been his biggest appeal. When asked which phrases describe Bush, 62 percent said he has strong leadership qualities, 65 percent said he is personally likable, 61 percent said he says what he believes rather than what people want to hear, and 55 percent said he is honest and ethical. Bush was 6 to 18 percentage points ahead of Kerry in each category.
Clarke's accusations "will not have an impact because nobody believes that George Bush isn't wholly focused on preventing attacks like those of September 11th," said Nicolle Devenish, the Bush-Cheney campaign's communications director.
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice will appear Sunday night on CBS's "60 Minutes," in an interview with Ed Bradley that is to be taped earlier Sunday at the White House.
Several Republican officials said they have warned the White House about the risk of smearing Clarke if independent voters wind up finding him believable, or if other evidence emerges that bolsters his contentions.
A senior official said the current strategy calls for Rice's interview to be "close to the end" of White House television appearances on the subject. "The goal is not to keep selling Clarke's book," the official said.
But Democrats said they will continue pressing Rice to testify under oath and in public before the independent commission looking into the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. Rice, who has agreed to further private testimony, said she is refusing to go public to preserve the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.
Mary Matalin, a former White House official and a senior adviser to the Bush-Cheney campaign, said that what she called "normal people" will wind up focusing on the larger issues of whether the attacks were an act of war and how the country will continue the global war on terrorism.
"The dramatic moments were dramatic moments, but the hysteria is a Beltway phenomenon," she said. "It was a draw on Clarke, and a net positive for the president because he had the opportunity to speak out on what he did and why he did it. People may know who Richard Clarke is now, but they also know that the president couldn't do in eight months what wasn't done in eight years."
Bush is spending the weekend at his ranch in Crawford, Tex., before heading into a week built around celebrations of achieving a campaign treasury of $170 million, a political record.
Cheney will give a speech about the economy on Monday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, while Bush will speak about the economy in Wisconsin on Tuesday and job training in West Virginia on Friday. His radio address this weekend was about home ownership.
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