There was an interesting exchange during yesterday’s White House press briefing that went largely unnoticed.
A reporter asked Tony Snow, “Is Iraq the most important issue facing the U.S.?” Rather than answer with the obvious response (which is “yes”), Snow said, “[I]t’s hard to say…. Americans also have a lot of other domestic concerns.”
Now, by any reasonable measure, this was a fairly silly response. This week’s Washington Post poll asked Americans to identify the nation’s most important problem. The war in Iraq was easily the top choice, named by 48% of poll respondents — more than the economy, health care, immigration, terrorism, and education combined, times two. Last week’s CBS poll found the same thing.
So why on earth would Snow hedge on what is obviously the top issue on the minds of every American? Because the president apparently wants to change the subject tonight.
Carrying some of the worst public approval ratings of any president in a generation, President Bush is heading into his State of the Union address on Tuesday night seeking to revitalize his domestic agenda but facing stiff resistance over the initiatives the White House has previewed so far.
Administration officials said Monday that among Mr. Bush’s proposals would be a plan to help states provide health care coverage to people who lack insurance by diverting federal aid from hospitals, especially public institutions…. Officials said Mr. Bush’s speech would include proposals to address the nation’s energy needs and global warming, partly by promoting the use and development of alternative fuels. He is also expected to renew his call for an overhaul of immigration law and to propose altering tax policies to help the uninsured.
The president’s advisers said they hoped Mr. Bush’s address would re-energize his domestic agenda by striking a bipartisan and ambitious tone as he faces further isolation on his Iraq policy.
I haven’t seen any sneak peeks at the president’s speech, but if this is his agenda for 2007, he might as well spend the next several months in Crawford clearing brush. His agenda will reach the Hill dead on arrival.
The health care proposal is small, ineffective, and borderline ridiculous. Bush tried to play up energy policy last year, but his policy specifics are thin and unambitious. He might be able to get an immigration bill on his desk, but only over the strong objections of the president’s own allies on the Hill.
There’s a reason Bush has always hoped to avoid domestic policy debates — he comes to the table with a losing hand. The fact that the White House wants to embrace domestic policy as a means of political improvement just further demonstrates what a disaster Bush’s foreign policy has become.
Tony Snow said yesterday the president will not “cease to be bold.” Please. The only “bold” move he’s made has been in invading a country under false pretenses and then bungling literally every aspect of the conflict for four years. If we’ve been getting “bold” Bush since 2001, maybe we could try “timid” Bush for a while.
As it happens, the real policy work is being done on the Hill, with an energetic Democratic majority that has obviously reclaimed the title of the “party of ideas.” Dems have already passed all of their 100 Hour agenda items, and they have plenty of work they’re anxious to do the rest of the year. Bush can get on board or ink-up his veto pen, but either way, a president with an approval rating in the 20s, a disastrous war, a small-and-shrinking circle of friends, no credibility, and vague and uninteresting policy prescriptions won’t be able to change the subject in a State of the Union address.
Call it a hunch.