The “Invitation Only” Presidency of George W. Bush

In order to govern effectively, presidents devise complex strategies for wooing the public. They do this because it is widely believed that if a president has high popularity ratings, moving the baroque system of government becomes a bit easier. In short, popularity greases the wheels of government.

A great deal of time is spent devising and implementing strategies for what presidential scholar Tom Cronin has called the “theatrical presidency,” and presidents use the bully pulpit, trips (both foreign and domestic), speeches, and symbolic gestures to draw attention to themselves. With that attention, they hope to gain popularity that can be converted into power. A popular president, it is believed, gets a better deal out of Congress than an unpopular one; a popular president gets better press than an unpopular one, and so it goes.

President Bush, whose popularity ratings were rather anemic in the early stages of his presidency, benefited from the reaction to the 9/11 tragedy, and a “rally ‘round the flag” effect catapulted his popularity into the stratosphere. At one point, Bush’s popularity was at 91 percent, an unheard of rating that only George H.W. Bush had ever achieved (during the first Gulf War). Of course, over time those inflated numbers have come back down to earth (as they did for his father as well leading into the 1992 election season—a rather unfortunate time for the elder Bush’s political fortunes). And now, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the federal government’s “unacceptable” response (Bush’s own words), the ongoing troubles in Iraq, a failed Social Security reform effort, the CIA leak scandal that has led at this point to the indictment of the vice president’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, and a host of other problems, the president’s numbers have hit an all-time low (36 percent, by one measure).

Prior to the summer of 2005, President Bush had been able to employ a rather effective strategy to draw favorable attention to himself and thereby increase his popularity ratings (not an easy task for a president who is not rhetorically gifted). There are several rules to the Bush public strategy that explain his success with the public:

First, pay reporters and columnists to promote the Bush agenda. On several occasions, the administration has been outed on this strategy and ultimately, it backfired. Second, release fake news reports packaged as real news. On several occasions, these fake news reports which promote the administration and its policies actually appeared on newscasts as real news. Third, develop a cozy relationship with several conservative and well-funded political action committees (PACs) which will then “go after” the president’s opponents, as was the case during the 2004 presidential election when the “Swift Boat Veterans” attacked Senator John Kerry’s war record. This also occurred after the election when conservative PACs went on the assault against the AARP because that organization opposed the president’s Social Security reform plan. Fourth, deny, deny, deny. Your supporters in the energy business don’t want the government to regulate emissions that cause global warming? Deny that it exists. Virtually every scientist who has studied global warming is issuing alarm bells, but if the science doesn’t fit your goals, merely deny that the science says what it says. Then ask, “Who you gonna believe, me or the evidence?” Or, if the war in Iraq is going badly, merely say, as Bush does so often, “We’re makin’ progress” or “Freedom and liberty are on the march.” Fifth, rely on the politics of fear by constantly reminding the audience that “we are at war.” Bush has always been eager to exploit the fears of the public over terrorism, and this has worked well for him, particularly during the 2004 presidential campaign. Sixth, travel around the country appearing before adoring crowds who will envelop the president in praise and applause, as well as lob softball questions at him. Of course, many of these events are “invitation only” and the crowds are carefully screened to eliminate any chance of a protester or tough question from the audience.

So, what’s the problem with this strategy if it has worked so well for this president? This “invitation only” strategy is not aimed at informing or drawing the public into the debate, it is designed to manufacture reality for an audience currently hooked on reality TV. It is a “spin” oriented approach that assumes that the public will not see that the emperor has no clothes, and perhaps more importantly, no arguments or substantive responses to the significant questions that are currently being posed to the federal government. Intended to create the illusion of reality, the lapdog news media serve as enablers as the Wizard of Oz uses smoke and mirrors to manipulate the public, and absent a Toto to pull the curtain away and reveal the illusion, many merely sit in front of their television sets and are entertained by this latest reality TV show.

Obviously, this strategy is not fool proof, and the president’s tepid response in the initial days of Hurricane Katrina, followed by his falling approval ratings, suggests that perhaps this strategy needs to be revised. Clearly, not only have many segments of the American populace been left out of the national political dialogue on the most pressing issues, but Bush himself seems to be out of touch with the day-to-day concerns of Americans (at least, if reports of his initial inability to understand the significance of the disaster in the Gulf Coast are correct). And while the president’s acceptance of blame for the federal government’s poor initial response to Katrina was the first time ever that this administration has provided anything close to a mea culpa, there is no indication that their overall public strategy will change.

Why continue to employ the “invitation only” strategy, even as a majority of Americans now disapprove of Bush’s performance? In part, because they can. Of course, the deeper cause for employing such a potentially risky strategy is perhaps fear. Of what, one might ask, is the president afraid? Plenty. As his economic policies grossly favor the wealthy, the president risks stirring the embers of class warfare. As the war in Iraq goes badly, the president risks increased opposition and falling popularity. As the energy companies loot the treasury, the president runs the risk of being outed for not having a policy that favors most Americans. As allies and adversaries look at the United States as a threat to international peace and stability, the president runs the risk of seeing his prestige and popularity at home plummet to levels that are even lower than they currently are, and even more shockingly low abroad. And while Bush may be a lame duck, the future of his party, and even more importantly, his own presidential legacy, are at stake.

However, the stakes are even higher for the rest of us. We need a president willing to inform and educate the American public, as well as engage citizens in a substantive dialogue that contributes to the best that our democratic process has to offer. Otherwise, we all pay a high price for the “invitation only” presidency of George W. Bush. And in a democracy, we have no one to blame but ourselves.