Bush Hears Straight Talk From Steelworkers
CANTON, Ohio — As President Bush's campaign bus barreled down Interstate 77 toward this Rust Belt city on a recent Saturday morning, an unusual focus group with 10 local steelworkers convened inside the vehicle. Conducting the session was Bush himself.
Even in an election year, Bush's direct encounters with the public have been infrequent, fleeting and almost always choreographed. In the free-flowing give-and-take aboard his private bus, however, the president got a polite but candid earful about the uneasy feeling many such workers have about the economy.
In the process, Bush had a rare opportunity to get his own fix on an issue that was not going his way in some politically critical areas, including Ohio. And the bus session, as well as the campaign stop immediately after it, reflected Bush's continuing search for ways to deliver a positive economic message without seeming out of touch with ordinary voters.
"There was a lot of anxiety" over the economy, said participant Vince Martino, describing the meeting later. "The president said he could feel the tension there and understood."
At one point, as Bush was talking about his efforts to make health insurance more widely available, a steelworker named Tom Miller, who described himself as a loyal supporter, all but interrupted the president to say, "Insurance is important, but it doesn't mean a lot if you don't have a job."
At the next campaign stop, Bush made a point of expressing empathy with the region, telling 5,000 raucous supporters: "I just traveled on the bus with workers who told me they are nervous about their future. They're concerned. I am too."
This week, Bush continued to deal with the subject in ways calculated to show that he understood such workers' pain. He virtually banished the phrase "turning a corner" from his public remarks on the economic outlook -- a line he had begun using not long before.
On Wednesday, addressing voters in Chippewa Falls, Wis., Bush praised the economic energy of farmers, workers and small-business owners, saying "well-timed tax cuts" had helped lift the economy. But he prefaced his remarks by acknowledging problems. "There's more to be done to keep this economy growing. We've been through a lot," he said.
"We've done our job. We've created the conditions for economic growth, but there is more work to do,'' he said later in words that reflected the fine line he hoped to walk: talking up the economy without seeming insensitive to those having trouble.
