Friday, October 10, 2003
Bush stumps in N.H. on economy, Iraq war
By Bob Kemper
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - Six months after the fall of Baghdad, President Bush on Thursday confronted public doubts about the war by urging Americans to look beyond the daily death tolls and difficulties in the Iraqi capital because "this is a new kind of war and we must adjust."
Equally mindful of the re-election fight he faces over the next year, Bush also went to lengths to reassure Americans that he is focused on and optimistic about the sagging economy, which, with rising unemployment, has replaced terrorism as the top concern of many voters.
In twin appearances in New Hampshire, Bush said that the situation is "much better" in Iraq than the American public has been led to believe by the news media. He said his decision to go to war was entirely justified even though none of the chemical, biological or nuclear weapons that were the chief rationale for the war has been found.
"I acted because I was not about to leave the security of the American people in the hands of a madman," Bush told hundreds of troops and their families.
"Who can possibly think that the world would be better off with Saddam Hussein still in power?" the president asked. "There is only one decent and humane reaction to the fall of Saddam Hussein: Good riddance."
Bush's emphasis on the war and economy - his "top two priorities for our country" - demonstrated a growing concern at the White House and among Bush's supporters that he remains politically vulnerable on the two issues that matter most to voters with Election Day a little more than a year away.
The sluggish economic recovery at home and the administration's flagging strategy in postwar Iraq have raised voter concerns about Bush's handling of both and invigorated Democratic foes who just months earlier feared that Bush's stratospheric wartime popularity might make him invincible at the polls.
The president's speeches were preceded by an address Wednesday in Chicago by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and will be followed by a talk today in Washington by Vice President Dick Cheney.
Democrats on Thursday derided the administration's public relations offensive as an insufficient and off-target response to what they view as a failing strategy for postwar Iraq.
"I don't think the American people want a speech," Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said in Washington. "They want results."
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said Bush's rhetoric won't change the increasing skepticism about the Iraq war.
"The American people have justifiable concerns," Leahy said.
