President George W. Bush, inhaling the fumes of his
own hubris, has been claiming that he not only won the election but also
won a mandate for his policies, including his war in Iraq and his plan to
undo our Social Security program. “We had an accountability moment,
and that’s called the 2004 elections,” Bush recently smirked to
reporters.
Interesting if true, but it’s not. Sorry to pop
that little bubble your handlers keep you in, George, but polls now show
that you’re starting your second term with no mandate, with strong
disapproval of your policies in Iraq, and with the public dubious about
your leadership on the domestic front. In fact, your job-approval rating is
an embarrassingly low 49 percent. Contrast that with the 60 percent
approval for Clinton and 62 percent for Reagan when they began their second
terms — only Richard Nixon started his second term with a lower
job-approval rating than yours.
One key measure of presidential performance is the
public’s sense of whether America is on the right track. Bad news
again: Fifty-six percent say the country is on the wrong track — the
worst rating for Bush since he’s been in office.
His war? Fifty-eight percent disapprove of his
handling of it, 75 percent say he has no credible exit strategy, a majority
says George routinely exaggerates about conditions there, and 53 percent
say his war will not be worth the loss of American lives.
On his No. 1 domestic issue, the privatization of
Social Security, 55 percent disapprove, and this number increases to 70
percent when people learn that his plan will cut benefits by a third.
George may have won the popularity contest last fall,
but his policies are unpopular.
This article appears in Feb 10-16, 2005.
