CAN PRESIDENT BUSH RECOVER? It matters enormously in the 2008 election–particularly in the presidential race–whether he does or not. Either way, recovery or no recovery, the president will have a powerful impact on the outcome. If he fails to lift himself out of the political doldrums, his successor in the White House is likely to be a Democrat. But should he pull off a strong finishing kick, as President Reagan did in 1988, the prospects of another Republican president will improve significantly.
President Bush of course won’t be on the ballot. But the status of his presidency–whether he’s seen as successful or not–will frame the election year debate, just as it did when Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, and Ronald Reagan left office after two presidential terms.
