When spin and facts collide, omit the facts

The Economic Report of the President is supposed to chronicle the administration’s take on the state of the economy, international trade, and economic developments around the world. Because of the Bush White House’s approach to governing, the document is supposed to be sunny and upbeat at all times about all things, lest anyone get the idea that Bush has faltered in some area.

To help achieve this goal, the White House “edited” this year’s Economic Report, deleting a chapter on Iraq altogether.

At the National Security Council’s request, the White House excised a full chapter on Iraq’s economy from last week’s Economic Report of the President, reasoning in part that the “feel good” tone of the writing would ring hollow against the backdrop of continuing violence, according to White House officials.

The decision to delete an entire chapter from the Council of Economic Advisers’ annual report was highly unusual. Council members — recruited from the top ranks of economic academia — have long prided themselves on independence and intellectual integrity, and the Economic Report of the President is the council’s primary showcase.

The withholding of a completed chapter struck some economists from both political parties as evidence of the council’s waning influence.

“This is extraordinary,” said William A. Niskanen, a CEA member in the Reagan White House and the chairman of the libertarian Cato Institute. “The council has been unfortunately weakened.”

It seems no one has ever heard of a White House manipulating the Economic Report of the President in such a blatantly political fashion. Other White Houses have had difficulties, if not outright outrages, over the conclusions drawn by the Council of Economic Advisers, but because the panel is supposed to be independent, previous presidents have had to deal with occasional disappointment over the council’s conclusions.

Not the Bush gang — if a report includes unpleasant news, it’s to be deleted before anyone can see it.

One ultimately finds it impossible to escape the conclusion that the White House simply doesn’t want to hear anything that is at odds with their own spin machine.

[T]he White House intervention heightened concern among some economists that the Bush administration does not value lengthy, reasoned analyses of its policies.

“They just don’t seem to show that serious study is an important part of politics,” [Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economic commentator] said. “It’s a very casual, hands-off, almost lackadaisical approach to the policy process.”

Indeed, let’s not forget that the Economic Report of the President is an independent annual document designed to help the White House shape economic policies. As this example of “creative editing” makes clear, the Bush gang doesn’t want help — or facts — since their ideology already tells them everything they need to know.