Bush Follows the Quayle Trail

With his approval ratings stuck in the mid-30's and 2/3rd's of the American public supporting a withdrawal from Iraq, President Bush has gone on the road this weekend to promote his "surge" policy.

However, the president has been careful to speak at overwhelmingly Republican venues like Tipp City, Ohio and Grand Rapids, Michigan (the home of former President Gerald Ford).

That's the strategy that Republican campaign strategists developed for Dan Quayle during the 1988 presidential campaign. After Quayle showed that he was not ready for prime time, the Bush/Quayle campaign limited him to safe Republican territory where Quayle wouldn't face difficult questions and wouldn't embarrass himself.

That's exactly what President Bush's handlers are doing with him--keeping him before safe audiences so he doesn't face difficult questions. Given the intense coverage of Bush as president, he's always going to be embarrassing himself to a certain extent (witness Jacob Weisberg's "Bushism of the Day" column for Slate). However, by keeping President Bush on the "Quayle Trail," Bush's advisers hope to keep the embarrassment to a minimum.