Decision ‘08

Peggy Noonan and the Art of Projection

Ms. Noonan in today’s Wall Street Journal:

What was missing in the president’s approach the other night was the expression, or suggestion, of context. The context was a crisis that had gone unanswered as it has built, the perceived detachment of the political elite from people on the ground, and a new distance between the president and his traditional supporters. The president would have done well to signal that he knew he was coming late to the party, as it were; that he’d come to rethink his previous stand, or lack of a stand, and had begun to consider whether there was not some justice in the views, and alarm, of others.

I dunno; the people on the ground seem more in tune with Bush than Noonan would care to admit:

There’s growing support for President Bush on the hot-button issue of immigration, according to a CBS News poll.

Most Americans say they approve of the immigration reform proposals the president outlined in a nationally televised address earlier this week. They’re also somewhat optimistic that Congress will pass an immigration bill by year’s end.

Sixty-two percent favor the president’s plan to station up to 6,000 National Guard troops at the U.S.-Mexico border, while 32 percent are opposed.

Six in 10 also approve of Mr. Bush’s proposal for a guest worker program, which would let foreign workers stay in the United States on a temporary basis and then return to their home country.

An even higher number, 77 percent, support a program that would clear the way for illegal immigrants to seek citizenship if they’ve been in the United States for at least five years, pay a fine and back taxes, learn to speak English and have no criminal record.

What’s more, at least according to this poll, his overall approval rating has improved 4 points since the speech…

9 Responses to “Peggy Noonan and the Art of Projection”

1 mikebdot Says:
May 19th, 2006 at 8:12 am
But, had Bush done what Noonan suggests and been forthcoming about his shortcomings on this topic, perhaps the poll numbers would be even better and perhaps if he had a history of being forthcoming about changes in his policies, perhaps his poll numbers wouldn’t be 30-35% (and yes, I am speaking to what I don’t like about him).
2 dmac Says:
May 19th, 2006 at 9:22 am
No matter what he does about this issue, there’s going to be severe disagreements about it. A true no - win situation, but at least he’s trying to get ahead of it, finally.
3 mikebdot Says:
May 19th, 2006 at 9:58 am
I agree, dmac. I also saw an article the other day about the number of homeless people in various cities decreasing over the past few years. There are things I think are good about him, but I don’t disagree that I would like to see him be more honest about policy adjustments or policies in general.
4 dmac Says:
May 19th, 2006 at 11:23 am
I’ll be the first to say that the lack of any communication skills on the part of this administration has been among the worst in memory. They’re almost Nixonian these days.
5 too many steves Says:
May 19th, 2006 at 11:35 am
I agree with that sentiment and while not making excuses, would like to point out that the current political environment is such that transparency of thought and honesty about policy adjustments or, as some might call it, evolution in the thinking on a given issue, isn’t advisable. Revealing uncertainty or that you have changed your view on something (due to a change in facts or refinement of your analysis or whatever) will open you up to attacks from your political opponents.

That said, I think the voters are smarter than to fall for that sort of thing, in the short term but these attacks can have a negative effect on voter perception over the long term.
6 peter Says:
May 19th, 2006 at 11:40 am
I think that consistently describing John Kerry as a flip-flopper has boxed Bush into a corner.
7 Fred Says:
May 19th, 2006 at 11:48 am
What I don’t understand about a guest worker program is why would anyone who right now is perfectly willing to be a illegal alien decide to return to their home country after being a guest worker for a few years? Why wouldn’t these people simply perfer being an illegal alien again? And if that’s the case, then any guest worker program must be either an automatic route to citizenship or an automtaic route to illegal alien status.
8 too many steves Says:
May 19th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
Well, Kerry is a flip-flopper, but he could have defused the entire thing if he had simply quoted (as opposed to plagerized) John Maynard Keynes:

“When the facts change, I change my mind - what do you do, sir?”
9 peter Says:
May 19th, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Right you are.

My favorite Keynes quote: “the markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.”