Here's a new CBS poll on Bush and Iraq, and here's Mark baffled about something.
21% of Americans approve of the job George W. Bush has done handling Iraq, as opposed to 75% who disapprove.
31% of Americans approve of Bush's overall job performance, as opposed to 63% who disapprove.
So, uh, what's on the minds of those people who think he's done a rotten job with Iraq but still think he's been a good president?
I'm serious with this question…well, sort of serious. I can understand thinking Bush has botched the war badly. Actually, I can understand that from two fronts: I can understand thinking he made a colossal mistake taking us to war in the first place and I can understand believing the war was the right move but that it's been lost by bad strategizing and/or not committing sufficient troop strength and/or mishandling the occupation. I can even understand (again, sort of) believing that Bush has made all (or mostly) the right decisions and that he's been a good Chief Exec. I don't agree, of course, but
But this presidency has become all about the war. It overwhelmingly dominates every poll about what Americans think is important and it impacts the runner-up answers like The Economy and Immigration and Combatting Terrorism, and probably not in a good way. How does someone disapprove of the war but approve of the guy who started it and ran it? I mean, even if you think Donald Rumsfeld's the one who screwed up, Bush is the guy who picked Rumsfeld, okayed everything he did and insisted, long after members of their own party were calling for the man's head, in keeping him on.
Now, it may be that the poll is just full of manure…but I don't think that's it because there's a similar gap in all the polls. My suspicion is roughly as follows: There are, of course, a lot of people out there who believe in the over-all, non-Iraq goals of the Republican Party. They've lost faith in Bush himself and they wish we'd never invaded Iraq and could get out without it helping the Democrats. When they're asked about the war, they don't want to encourage its continuance so they say no, they don't approve of the handling of the war. But when they're asked about Bush, they don't want to repudiate the domestic issues he seemed to stand for. They still think a G.O.P. in the White House is the ticket to lower taxes, banning abortion, more God in public settings, no gay marriages, etc., so they answer that they approve of Bush. But it's not him they like. They just don't want to have him seen as a failed president because some of that failure will rub off on their non-Iraq agenda.
Does that make any sense? Or is there some other explanation I'm missing here?
Are there people reading this who disapprove of Bush's handling of the war but approve of his over-all presidency? Would one of them like to send me a message I can post here explaining this? I'm really curious.