McCain’s Economic Undertow

For John McCain, embracing President Bush is like hugging an anchor.
National Journal
Sat. Apr. 26, 2008
by Ronald Brownstein

With an assist from the unending Democratic nomination race, John McCain has levitated above his party this spring. But antithetical answers that McCain offered on the economy just one day apart this month crystallized the challenge he will face in staying aloft as President Bush’s support plummets to uncharted depths.

On April 17, McCain told Bloomberg Television, “You could make an argument that there’s been great progress economically” since Bush took office, even though that was “no comfort” to “families now … facing these tremendous economic challenges.” Democrats immediately seized on the portion of the answer praising the president to paint McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, as both too insular and too close to Bush.

McCain’s camp ferociously accused Democrats of misrepresenting his remarks by omitting his “no comfort” caveat. But that argument seemed strained: Even qualified praise is still praise. In any case, after a day of battering from Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, McCain raised the white flag. He went back on Bloomberg’s Political Capital With Al Hunt and declared, “In fact, I think Americans are not better off than they were eight years ago, when you look at what has happened to middle-income Americans.”

There in miniature is the dilemma McCain faces as public discontent with Bush continues to crest. Gallup reported on Tuesday that just 28 percent of Americans approved of Bush’s performance, which is his worst showing yet. Even more striking, 69 percent of Americans said they disapproved of Bush’s performance. That’s the highest disapproval rating for a president that Gallup has ever recorded, higher even than Richard Nixon’s just before his resignation. Bush has established a new high in lows.

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