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Feb

28

From the Told You So department: Bush needs a loan, capital he gloated over in 2005 all used up


Everyone remember President Bush’s first press conference after the 11/04 elections, when he talked about how he had earned capital to spend?

Q Do you feel more free, sir?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, in terms of feeling free, well, I don’t think you’ll let me be too free. There’s accountability and there are constraints on the presidency, as there should be in any system. I feel — I feel it is necessary to move an agenda that I told the American people I would move. Something refreshing about coming off an election, even more refreshing since we all got some sleep last night, but there’s — you go out and you make your case, and you tell the people this is what I intend to do. And after hundreds of speeches and three debates and interviews and the whole process, where you keep basically saying the same thing over and over again, that when you win, there is a feeling that the people have spoken and embraced your point of view, and that’s what I intend to tell the Congress, that I made it clear what I intend to do as the President, now let’s work to — and the people made it clear what they wanted, now let’s work together.

And it’s one of the wonderful — it’s like earning capital. You asked, do I feel free. Let me put it to you this way: I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style. That’s what happened in the — after the 2000 election, I earned some capital. I’ve earned capital in this election — and I’m going to spend it for what I told the people I’d spend it on, which is — you’ve heard the agenda: Social Security and tax reform, moving this economy forward, education, fighting and winning the war on terror.

We have an obligation in this country to continue to work with nations to help alleve poverty and disease. We will continue to press forward on the HIV/AIDS initiative, the Millennium Challenge Account. We will continue to do our duty to help feed the hungry. And I’m looking forward to it, I really am.

It’s been a — it’s been a fantastic experience campaigning the country. You’ve seen it from one — perspective, I’ve seen it from another. I saw you standing there at the last, final rally in Texas, to my right over there. I was observing you observe, and you saw the energy. And there was just something uplifting about people showing up at 11:00 p.m. at night, expressing their support and their prayers and their friendship. It’s a marvelous experience to campaign across the country.

[emphasis mine]

I cannot be the only one who thought, just like I think no one should call someone a “rising star,” “He is going to be so sorry he said that.”

Well, the way I read this story in Politico about shifts in the White House lobbyist, I’d say he’s looking to take out some loans for more capital. Doesn’t it seem counterintuitive, even if practically necessary, that the person elected as president of the United States would need to amp up the White House lobby efforts? I know, I know – it’s politics.

Still – I’m just saying – it’s fubar. The president is supposed to be the person the country wants, not the person who needs to convince everyone that he or she knows what to do and we better listen.

Sigh.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:05 am February 28th, 2007 in Politics 

Comments

2 Responses to “From the Told You So department: Bush needs a loan, capital he gloated over in 2005 all used up”

  1. 1 Unique on February 28th, 2007 1:29 pm

    It took America 8 years to erase the deficit and create a budget surplus – it took George Bush 6 months to spend it.

    Helluva businessman you are Georgie. But your credit rating is down the tubes.

  2. 2 Jill on March 5th, 2007 10:27 pm

    He was just being arrogant and not thinking very long-term. Nothing new.

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