Democrats, facing a U.S. electorate angry about the economy and other issues, still have one political asset: George W. Bush.Conservatives should be getting one hundred percent of the blame, but many Republicans have considerable powers of denial when it comes to accepting responsibility.
The former Republican president is blamed more than President Barack Obama for the budget deficit, unemployment and illegal immigration, according to a Bloomberg National Poll conducted July 9-12.
Most surprising is that 60 percent say Bush is primarily responsible for the current situation in Afghanistan. Just 10 percent point to Obama, who has ordered 51,000 additional troops to that country since taking office, doubling the number deployed by Bush.
When Obama entered office in January 2009, there had been 568 U.S. casualties associated with the Afghanistan conflict, a number that has grown to 1,086, as of yesterday, according to the Defense Department. The president has vowed to start withdrawing forces in July 2011, with the pacing determined by conditions on the ground.
“The public remembers the Bush years as a tumultuous time of costly wars, and the years when a budget surplus became a deficit,” said J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., a Des Moines, Iowa-based firm that conducted the survey.
Katrina, Gulf Spill
Asked to compare Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina with Obama’s handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, 51 percent say Bush’s performance was worse, while 35 percent name Obama. Republicans are more likely to pan Obama’s performance on the oil spill, with 69 percent saying he did worse than Bush.
Facing a tough environment in the November congressional elections, when their control of both chambers may be at stake, Obama and his fellow Democrats often mention the problems they inherited from the previous administration, which left the White House 18 months ago.
“They spent a decade driving the economy into a ditch,” Obama, 48, said at a Las Vegas fundraiser on July 8 for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. “And now they’re asking for the keys back. And my answer is, ‘no, you can’t have the keys. You can’t drive. You don’t know how to drive. You drive in the wrong direction.’”
. On unemployment, Bush is listed as most responsible by 32 percent, compared with 22 percent for Obama. Those with incomes below $25,000 are more likely to blame Bush for the unemployment rate, which was 9.5 percent in June.
‘Getting Worse’
“Bush was there for eight years and everything just kept getting worse,” says poll participant Kelly Redding, 31, an independent voter from Columbus, Ohio. “Obama can’t perform miracles overnight.”
Jeremy Dawson, 31, who has served three tours in Iraq, is among those who blame Bush more than Obama for some of the nation’s biggest problems.
“He focused so much on Iraq and Afghanistan and not enough on America,” says Dawson, who votes as an independent. “There was little or nothing being done in this country.”
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