Salon's advice: Obama should focus more on George W. Bush

[Marzupialis]

The economy tanked during George W. Bush's tenure.

Today, more people blame Bush more than Obama for our economic woes. Still, the gap between W. and Obama is closing on who to blame. Salon's Steve Kornacki believes that if Obama reminded Americans more often of Bush's disastrous policies, the blame would shift even farther away from Obama.

I believe that make sense. Bush endorsed Romney the other day, and Romney has done nothing to distance himself from him. Ultra-right wing bloggers are probably the only ones who will whine about Democrats being "obsessed" with a man who's not even President yet. I say go for it.

We wouldn't be in this situation if Kerry had been President.

Article here: http://www.salon.com/2012/05/22/bain_or_%E2%80%A6_bush/

[rfranklin]

1. He and every other Dem should always remind people of Bush and that Romney wants...

to double down on the Bush policies that had us freefalling into the abyss.

[kentuck]

2. The President should state at every opportunity...

... that Mitt Romney has endorsed the policies of George W Bush. Contrary to all their hopes and wishes, people have not forgotten the disaster left by George W Bush.

If the Romney campaign disagrees, ask them to give one example where Romney differs from George W Bush?

They wanna play hardball ?

[RZM]

3. Shitty idea. It's almost as bad as the advice Mitt was getting to use Reverend Wright

Both are 2008 stories. Their time has passed.

I'm not saying that should be the case, but I think it is the case. Focusing on Bush almost four years after he left office doesn't send the right message. Rightly or wrongly, the president has to own the state of the nation on their watch. Sometimes that results in presidents being unfairly blamed for what's going on. But it also results in them getting credit for things they don't deserve credit for - and you never hear them complain about the latter.

Presidents don't get to stack the deck. They have to play the hand they were dealt, just like everybody else. And going back to Bush leaves the impression that Obama is trying to get out of owning his first term. He would maybe have a point there, but I don't think it would help his image.

Rather than focusing on 'Bush got us into this mess,' he focus on 'I'm working 24/7 on getting us out of this mess.' That puts the emphasis back on himself, his actions, and the future, which is where it should be.