Bush and his campaign team have probably known for a while that they can’t ask for a second term based on domestic policy. The president’s only pillars of strength have been his perceived abilities in dealing with foreign policy, terrorism, and national security threats.
Of course, with his foreign policy agenda having been thoroughly discredited, Bush has to somehow turn attention back towards the United States, where the public largely disapproves of his handling of, well, pretty much everything.
The latest step to boost his standing at home came yesterday , when Bush traveled to Ohio (20 electoral votes — his 17th trip to the state since his inauguration) to defend his record on health care.
Making the 17th trip of his presidency to the state, Mr. Bush told a crowd of health care professionals that it is important to achieve his five-year goal of opening or expanding 1,200 health centers to serve more than 6 million people.
“This is part of the safety net, a wise expenditure of taxpayers’ money,” the president said. “We’re trying to get up to serving 16 million people.”
I understand why Bush might be tempted to devote some rhetoric to the issue, but health care is one of his biggest problems. He should be avoiding it like the plague, not visiting a battleground state to talk about it.
But as long as Bush brought it up, let’s see just how weak the ground is for him on health care.
Four years ago, Bush talked about health care as part of his “compassionate conservative” agenda. Republicans had long ignored the issue, but Bush, anxious to minimize his differences with Gore, talked a good game on the issue.
During one of the presidential debates, Jim Lehrer brought up the plight of the uninsured.
Lehrer: “Governor, both of you have talked much about Medicare and health care for seniors. What about the more than 40 million younger Americans who do not have health insurance right now? What would you do about that?”
Bush: “Well, I’ve got a plan to do something about that.”
Bush proceeded to give a lengthy, rambling answer about “community health centers” and tax cuts. There was, of course, no “plan” to do something about the millions of people with no health insurance.
And throughout Bush’s first term, the issue has been on the back burner when it’s been considered at all. The negligence has produced predictable results.
First, there’s the Medicare “reform” bill that Bush pushed through Congress. Instead of being a crowning health care achievement for his administration, it is a widely derided fiasco.
Second, there are the unfortunate statistics. Health care premiums have skyrocketed, as have the number of uninsured. Bush and the GOP obviously have no “secret plan” to deal with the problem; in fact, their proposals would likely make things worse.
And finally, as the federal government has cut aid to states, most state governments have cut back on health care spending to help balance their budgets.
As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities noted a few months ago, “[I]n response to budget pressures, states have taken actions that are reducing the number of low-income people covered by Medicaid, SCHIP and other health insurance programs by 1.2 to 1.6 million people, with almost half of those losing coverage being children.”
And now Bush wants to make health care and the “safety net” a campaign issue? Bring…it…on.