The Blame Bush Strategy Won't Work

From: Wall Street Journal

The Blame Bush Strategy Won't Work: Polls reveal voters are receptive to GOP ideas. - By Karl Rove
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704901104575423541546019602.html?mod=wsj_share_facebook


To save themselves in the midterm elections, Democrats are counting on selling two themes: The state of the economy is all George W. Bush's fault, and Republican policies will take us backwards. President Obama relished going to Texas this week to blame his predecessor for the current bad economy.

Nice try, but it won't work. Don't take my word. This is what Mr. Obama's pollster, Joel Benenson, has found. The Benenson Strategy Group wasn't exactly quite this blunt in its report for the "Third Way," a centrist Democratic organization. But its data was.

In its poll released in July, Benenson asked, "Generally speaking, who is more responsible for the recent economic recession—President Barack Obama or President George W. Bush?" The answer was Mr. Bush 53%, Mr. Obama 26%, and "Don't know" 21%. . . . . .