"Good job, Prime Minister"and the Bush campaign is back on track

[JoFerret]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1194384,00.html

Downing Street is pleased with the Rose Garden double act but only Ariel Sharon left the White House with a broad smile, report Paul Harris in Washington and Kamal Ahmed in London

Sunday April 18, 2004
The Observer

The press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House went perfectly.....President George Bush patted him on the elbow. 'Good job, Prime Minister,' he said quietly and then: 'Well done.'
Blair had indeed done a good job for Bush. Standing at the President's right hand after a two-hour meeting, Blair faced the world's television cameras. He gave an eloquent and impassioned defence of the two men's war in Iraq. It was the sort of performance Bush had sought to give earlier in the week on a live broadcast on American prime-time television. But Bush's fumbling display had fallen flat. Blair now provided the right tone and sense of a steady hand in a sea of troubles.

It was exactly what Bush needed. But his worries were not solely the prospect of Iraq spinning out of control. Nor was his message just for the people of Iraq, or European allies smarting from the run-up to war, or the outraged Arab world. In fact, Bush's concerns were far closer to home: his re-election.

Bush's campaign has got off to a rocky start. Top Republicans have been stunned by the crisis-hit beginning to what was expected to be one of the best-run, best-funded campaigns in recent memory.... .

The Rose Garden press conference was designed to change all that. ....
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One pollster has estimated that swinging just 10 per cent of Jewish votes could win the entire state of Ohio....

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