The President's No-Win Boxes. The President has boxed himself into some no-win boxes. He can spin and stutter until doomsday but, the pork filled Medicare Bill and the steel tariffs, are boxes with no way out while saving face. Senator John McCain and many other conservative Republicans who believe in the 2000 Republican's platform calling for fiscal restraint and downsizing government are beginning to become quite vocal. Many are now calling for President Bush to veto the pork spending in the Medicare bill, and the comprehensive prescription coverage they believe should be provided only to the needy. Bush promised a prescription drug plan, and he lobbied heavily in Congress to get it passed. Now that he has it coming to his desk for signing, he is losing the respect and confidence of conservative Republicans who see their President growing the national deficit, debt and government in unprecedented ways. He is also giving Democrats, who were initially shocked that their Medicare baby had been coopted by the President and Republicans, the ammunition they will need to attack the big spending, budget busting, deficit hog that the Republican party is becoming with Bush as it's head.
The steel tariffs imposed by President Bush early in 2002 for political gain, are now hurting the President's numbers in a handful of important swing states whose workers are seeing job losses as the companies they work for are losing profits and laying off due to higher steel prices which the tariffs created. We know the tariffs which would obviously backfire on the U.S. was a political ploy as evidenced by the President's actions afterward. It is expected the Whitehouse will announce removing the steel tariffs this coming week, in response to political pressure coming from both domestic and international concerns, again for political gain. Except, now he cannot have it both ways. The policy which threatened the American economy with international tariffs placed on American exports was either the wrong policy in the first place, or it is wrong to lift them now, since, the American steel industry is little better off than it was before.
Like other policies like No Child Left Behind without the funding to enable it, a swift war in Iraq, that now appears to have a future of American involvement without end, this President's actions and decisions are now being scrutinized, and the polls are showing the results with as many Americans now stating they will not vote for the President as those who will. Wouldn't it be an amazing thing if Bush's 200 + million dollar reelection war chest fails to buy another 4 years showing that America's government cannot be bought and sold to the person with the deepest pockets? [Third Party WatchBlog]