Bush's successes go unnoticed

Bush's approval ratings have fallen below 40% for the first time in his Presidency. This is ironic given some historic milestones that his administration has obtained. First, he led this country to a full economic recovery in less than 4 years since the worst enemy attack on U.S. soil (the jobless numbers pre-Katrina were lower than the golden years of the Clinton administration). Second, he has liberated two countries and over 50 million people from extremely oppressive governments and started the fire of democracy throughout the Middle East. Although the Iraq war has been much more difficult than anticipated (and many of the reasons for going there have turned out to be false), things have been steadily moving in the right direction (See "Iraq mounts new raid on guerrillas" http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050912/wl_nm/iraq_dc )
Third, the Israelis recently completely a full withdrawal of the Gaza Strip and West Bank - an important step on the "Roadmap to Peace".

Even the federal response to Hurricane Katrina has been overwhelmingly successful. Read the following piece:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05254/568876.stm
Jack Kelly: No shame
The federal response to Katrina was not as portrayed
"The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne."

"For instance, it took five days for National Guard troops to arrive in strength on the scene in Homestead, Fla. after Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992. But after Katrina, there was a significant National Guard presence in the afflicted region in three."

"More than 32,000 people have been rescued, many plucked from rooftops by Coast Guard helicopters. The Army Corps of Engineers has all but repaired the breaches and begun pumping water out of New Orleans. Shelter, food and medical care have been provided to more than 180,000 refugees."

But most of Bush's recent successes have gotten only minimal attention by the mainstream media, whose mantra, "Get Bush", leads them to attack and criticize. Does this country really need these Monday Morning Quarterbacks? Katie Couric was all full of glee this morning when she announced that Bush's approval rating was at an all time low, and suggested that this may be a "new turning point". She didn't elaborate, but the jist I got was that by "new turning point" was that this was the end of the Bush legacy - "WE GOT HIM!" (For those who don't remember, "We Got him!" was the quote from Paul Bremmer after Saddam Hussein was captured.) The media delights in bad news - the more it sucks for us, the better it is for them and their agenda. The gas prices are way up - yippee!!!! Now, they are hoping that a weakend George Bush will select a "comprimise candidate" (i.e., a liberal) for the Supreme Court.

But Bush deserves some of the criticism because he doesn't LEAD. He isn't out front gaining the trust of the American people. He acts like he can hide behind closed doors while other people underneath him go about fixing all the problems. If he would just get in front of the media every night and face down their criticism, he would gain the respect of the American people. Look at Bill Clinton for example - during the height of the Lewinsky scandal he stood up in front of the press and took their stupid, inane questions and he gained the sympathy of the American people. The American people - at least the everyday, grassroots folk - HATE the media. And the more the media attacks the president, the worse THEY look. Bush's approval ratings are always highest after he faces down the evil press corps. But when he hides from them, and more importantly, when he hides from the American people, the people get restless. The photo of him looking out the window of Air Force One as he flew over New Orleans on his way to somewhere else was the worst.

He needs to look bold and in charge. And he needs to shore up his base by picking a strong conservative for the Court and he needs to go to the UN next week and be on the offensive over the Oil-for-Food scandal. He needs to veto the next "Christmas Tree bill" that comes from Congress. He needs that fire that he showed after 9-11. More importantly, the American people need that.