For Bush's Campaign, 9/11 Is Defining Theme
WASHINGTON — As his reelection bid kicks into gear, President Bush is offering a catchall explanation designed to inoculate himself against potential vulnerabilities -- from a weak economy and massive budget deficits to the growth of government and a curtailment of civil rights.
In a phrase, it's 9/11.
As Bush tells it, the anemic economy he inherited was just coming out of the doldrums when the terrorists struck New York City and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. And the nation only now is recovering from the severe dislocations those attacks wrought.
"The attack hurt our economy," Bush said in Bakersfield last week.
Few would dispute that. But far from clear is whether voters will buy his view of the far-reaching effect of Sept. 11 and its aftermath on the economy.
Barry P. Bosworth, an economist who served in the administrations of presidents Nixon and Carter, said Bush was exaggerating the extent to which the war on terrorism had contributed to the annual budget deficits, which this year could top $500 billion. Bosworth said the president was also minimizing the role played by pushing into law across-the-board tax cuts.
It is hardly surprising for Bush to invoke Sept. 11; the tragedy has defined his presidency.
"It's a time-tested tactic in American politics to recall for people some horror as a voting cue," said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Using a phrase invoked for decades by Republicans after the Civil War, he added: "It's important for presidents to wave the bloody shirt."
But Bush's gambit also looms as a double-edged sword, as became evident last week. Some relatives of victims of the terror attacks and a firefighters union condemned him for using images of the World Trade Center tragedy in his reelection campaign's first television ads. The critics called the spots insensitive and offensive.
Top Bush aides politely but vehemently disagreed. "The ad is a reminder of our shared experience. Sept. 11 is not some distant event in the past. It's a defining event for our future," Karen P. Hughes, one of the president's closest advisors, said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Bush personally defended the imagery Saturday, saying, "I will continue to speak about the effects of Sept. 11 on our country and my presidency."
