A question of character(trustworthiness follows forfeited comptence rep)

[papau]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1055756,00.html
A question of character

Leader
Saturday October 4, 2003
The Guardian

By their nature, American presidential politics are intensely personal. In Britain, general election voters are asked to support a party and a set of policies. The character of the party's leader is not, in theory at least, the primary consideration for most electors, although that has been changing in recent years. In the US, by contrast, the position is much more clear-cut. The character and personal qualities of individual candidates are central to the voters' choice of president. In 2000, George Bush campaigned on the need to restore integrity and moral rectitude to the White House after the scandal-plagued Clinton years. The issue of trust worked for Mr Bush then. And it is working for him now - just. A national opinion poll this week found that 53% believe Mr Bush to have more honesty and integrity than most people in public life. About 35% believe the Bush White House to be more honest than the preceding administration, although 43% detect little or no difference.

The crucial importance of Mr Bush's perceived trustworthiness, in the context of the looming election campaign, becomes clearer when his ratings for other aspects of his job are factored in. Across the board, according to the New York Times/CBS poll and other surveys, Mr Bush now lacks majority support. Only 40% of Americans are confident about his handling of the economy; 60% believe his policies favour the rich. Only 45% trust in his ability to deal wisely with an international crisis; only 47% approve of his Iraq policy. Overall, Mr Bush's performance in office is viewed favourably by about 4 in 10 voters. Asked whether the country is on the "wrong track", a traditional measure of voting intentions, 56% say it is; 37% disagree. In all these categories, moreover, support for Mr Bush is trending downwards.<snip>

... Mr Bush survived sleazy controversies over the Enron collapse and conflict of interest allegations concerning vice-president Dick Cheney and the oil industry, although they left a bad taste. But now he faces two key tests of his credibility that may be harder to surmount. One is the strengthening perception that Mr Bush misled Americans over the reasons for attacking Iraq and is still not being straight with them about the long-term implications, about reconstruction contract croneyism, and about how the public's money is being spent. The other big test will be how Mr Bush handles the burgeoning scandal over the exposure by unnamed White House officials, apparently for reasons of spite, of a CIA agent married to Joseph Wilson, a prominent critic of Iraq policy. Few in Washington appear to doubt that Mr Bush's closest adviser, Karl Rove, has important questions to answer - and possibly Mr Bush himself. The fact that the inquiry is being run inhouse by a justice department headed by Bush ultra-loyalist, John Ashcroft, does not inspire confidence that those questions will be fully answered. The public interest demands that more independent scrutiny be applied. If it is not, Mr Bush risks seeing his reputation for trustworthiness follow his forfeited reputation for competence into the electoral dustbin.

(as an aside - the CIA ID leak -per Pincus/Allen@Washington Post- caused Exposure of CIA Front Firm -"The leak of a CIA operative's name has also exposed the identity of a CIA front company, potentially expanding the damage caused by the original disclosure, Bush administration officials said yesterday.The company's identity, Brewster-Jennings & Associates, became public because it appeared in Federal Election Commission records on a form filled out in 1999 by Valerie Plame, the case officer at the center of the controversy, when she contributed $1,000 to Al Gore presidential primary campaign.After the name of the company was broadcast yesterday, administration officials confirmed that it was a CIA front. They said the obscure and possibly defunct firm was listed as Plame's employer on her W-2 tax forms in 1999 when she was working undercover for the CIA.")