Has Bush lost his "low expectations" advantage?

[jcgadfly]

In the debates with Gore, the pundits claimed that Bush won because everyone bought into the "campaign of low expectations". All Bush had to do was keep breathing and maintain a constant body temperature and he won the debate despite Gore pulling his punches and pummeling him anyway.

Now that he's been able to play President for a while, has Bush lost the "low expectations" advantage? Will people want more from the presidency than Bush has given them? Or will he be able to skate again because "everything changed after 9/11" and he shouldn't be expected to be at his best in this situation. I remember when the media was trumpeting him as Churchill, FDR, and MacArthur rolled into one package. Now that the truth is coming out about the fraud leading up to the conflict in Iraq, will they be able to fall back on the "low expectations" mantra yet again?

More importantly, will we as Democrats, Americans and human beings let them?

[kentuck]

1. I think we on the left are partly responsible for the 'low expectations" .

Instead of portraying him as a stupid, ignorant imbecile, we may have been better served if we had portrayed him as a brilliant tactician, a masterful political strategist who depended on the division of his opponents for his survival. We may have been better served to point out that he was very adept in the ways of propaganda and diversion. Instead, we permitted the "low expectations" to succeed by helping to portray him as a person of low expectations...

[jcgadfly]

2. In other words

we should focus on Bush as an intellectually lazy but dangerously cunning individual who knows when to manipulate people and when to allow himself to be manipulated for the maximum gain?

Correct me if I'm misreading you.

[kentuck]

5. I would say...

that when our portrayal of Bush is so out of sync with his supporters, then it plays into the "low expectations" game. Only when we portray him in a way whereby even his supporters can see some degree of truth in what we say, can we anticipate the "expectations" level for Bush to change. By continuing to call him a dumb, ignorant cracker is not helping our side. Give him credit when he kicks the Democrats asses...if a "dumbass" can do that to the Democrats, how dumb does that make the Democrats look?

[PATRICK]

7. too many lies already

Bush is no "genius" by any stretch of the term, even though Bayh called hime that early on in the most abysmal failure of that strategy. The Repugs gloated. The Dems were angered and dismayed. If anbything the general populace got more a vague "respect" for the Presifdent's "leadership".

Honesty is better than namecalling or false praise. Accurate assessments have been made of the Bush team skills. Only their ruthless rush for everything radically right to perpetuate their power came as a temporary surprise. It's just another pyramid scheme of trust(con job) going for ALL the marbles that cannot stop or reality collapses it.

No the low expectations have shifted instead to a woefully unadaptive political opposition that whatever its expertise and experience cannot ot will not see the new rules. We come prepared for chess and get clobbered at checkers.

Bush will stick to his monochrome strategy that relies on power accretion. All he needs to succeed is for Democrats to waffle, worry and become divided. It wouldn't take a genius to bring him down.

[Bandit]

10. In other words we should lie through our teeth

It is awful hard to say Bush* is brilliant in any way. A politician, good yes but brilliant???????

[whoYaCallinAlib]

11. I tried to say Bush was even "half-way smart" . . .

but I was laughing so hard the words wouldn't come out.

[kentuck]

14. But we don't even call him "good"..?

He's a Machivellian politician who has beat the Democrats like little bongo drums - from his tax cuts to the war in Iraq... I think that is closer to the "perceived" truth than to simply say he is a ignorant and dumb fraud...(Although I would agree with the latter, I don't think the majority of people would buy that assessment)

[gratuitous]

3. Only if we keep reminding people

Let's face it, what does this bumbling fool bring to the table? What is Lil George's vision for America? So far, it's been to leave us vulnerable to attack, end that line of federal surpluses as far as the eye can see, and shovel all available (and some unavailable) federal revenue into the overstuffed pockets of his overrich cronies.

Has he improved schools? No. Has he rebuilt roads and bridges that are decaying and falling apart? No. Has he made us safer from attack, or multiplied our enemies? His administration stumbles and bumbles its way from one crisis to another, trumping up a crisis when none is readily available, to distract the public from the horrible job they're doing in just about every facet of public life except for the massive transfer of this nation's wealth to his buddies.

Low expectations? Hell, I'd be happy if this fucking fraud actually met a low expectation! He's incapable of doing anything right for the American public, except by accident, but every decision of his corrupt administration inures to the benefit of an easily identified interest group, whether it's stem cell research (Tommy Thompson) or new media ownership rules promulgated by the FCC (Rupert Murdoch).

[xchrom]

4. i agee with your assesment of his tenure

but there's much about bush that far too many of the american public find just right.
has nothing to do with substance and everything to do with his public persona. after 9-11 -- i have no faith in the public at large -- they've been confronted time and again with an obvious fraud and they still think he and the action's he's taken are hunky dory.

[gratuitous]

8. So it's time for a new strategy

Instead of pointing out Chimpy's failures and flaws, which the media don't report or dwell on, and the public can't be bothered to read about, let's start articulating our vision for the future. Practically anything the progressive left has to offer will stand in stark contrast to Chimpy's abysmal record of non-accomplishment.

Draw the differences in contrast, and even the lamest brain out there will begin to notice that those budget surpluses are gone, there's no money to take care of the poor, sick and elderly, there's no vision or dream offered by this pack of thieves, and that if the U.S. is to deliver on its promises again, it's time for new leadership.

[kentuck]

13. I think you might have hit the nail on the head !

Since Bush and Rove, et al are dependent on political division to remain in power, we do need to "draw the differences in contrast" - not to criticize the do-nothing Chimp but to show people there is another way and that we can do better...mcuh better.

[pansypoo53219]

6. now that the press has CREATED the all powerful simian

it has to admit it when he FAILS AGAIN AND AGAIN. Their ESTEEMED leader cannot be praised when he FUCKS UP ANYMORE. No more low expectation anymore. he's their creation and they need to give us a BIG BIG MEA CULPA.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

9. There are no more excuses

People don't want excuses, and their "expectations" are now irrelevant.
The only thing anyone expects or wants now is RESULTS.

And Bush has nothing to show for himself.

[samsingh]

12. i think he has

* has a lot to answer for and cannot smuggly smirk.