A Republican columnist's view -

Elizibeth Auster - Cleveland Plain Dealer

Bush ads taste like medicine

03/07/04

Forget for a moment the controversy surrounding President George W. Bush's use of images from the Sept. 11 attacks in his campaign commercials.

There is another problem with this opening round of Bush commercials that could prove even more troubling in the long run to his re-election prospects. Taken together, the three ads released last week have a distinctly depressing and defensive tone. And that raises the possibility that Bush, who ran a brilliant campaign against Al Gore in 2000, may be starting out his 2004 campaign with a message that is seriously off-key.

The Bush team had a seemingly simple goal in launching the ad campaign. After months of Bush-bashing by Democratic presidential candidates, Bush's advisers naturally wanted to cast their candidate in a more flattering light.

But they are taking a big gamble, particularly in two of the commercials, both of which are set to mournful music, that focus on the various travails America has suffered since Bush took office.

In one commercial, titled "Safer, Stronger," the viewer is presented with a litany of troubles Bush faced after taking office: "An economy in recession. A stock market in decline. A dot-com boom . . . gone bust. Then . . . a day of tragedy. A test for all Americans."

The commercial concludes on a somewhat more upbeat note. "Today," it continues, "America is turning the corner. Rising to the challenge. Safer, stronger. President Bush. Steady leadership in times of change."

Despite the shift in tone, the commercial's net emotional effect is grim. Instead of presenting Bush as a forceful leader, it presents Bush as a victim of events. By concluding that America is safer and stronger, both of which are relative terms, it suggests that we are neither safe nor strong quite yet.

Even the slogan, "Steady leadership in times of change," has an unsettling undertone. "Steady leadership" is less reassuring than, say, bold leadership, or decisive leadership. And stressing that we live in "times of change" is likely to comfort no one.

The hidden strategy here, presumably, is to warn voters against switching leaders at a dangerous time. But by emphasizing the uncertainty of our times, Bush risks having Americans associate his tenure in office primarily with anxiety, instead of encouraging Americans to view him as a leader capable of moving America beyond anxiety. That leaves a perfect opening for John Kerry to make the case that Bush handled the im mediate post 9/11 threat well, but that he might not be the best choice to take Amer ica to the next step.

A second short Bush commercial, titled "Tested," also dwells somberly on the "tough times" Americans have endured lately, and has an equally sad feel. The mood is the opposite of the "morning in America" sunniness that characterized the campaign style of Ronald Reagan, the last Republican president to win a second term.

Bush's longest and best commercial focuses on the economy and adopts a more confident tone. In it, Bush speaks warmly of the "entrepreneurial spirit of America," and notes how economic growth tends to lead to job growth. But while this commercial isn't depressing, it is not quite reassuring, either.

Bush asserts repeatedly in it that he is optimistic about America and about his own leadership ability. "I know exactly where I want to lead this country. I know what we need to do to make the world more free and more peaceful. I know what we need to do to make sure every person has a chance at realizing the American dream. I know what we need to do to continue economic growth so people can find work."

The trouble is Bush never spells out, or even hints at, what "we need to do."

He commits the classic communication mistake of telling instead of showing of telling people what they should believe, instead of showing why they should believe. The result is that Bush ends up sounding vague to the point of defensiveness on the one issue where he is most vulnerable: the economy.

What is most perplexing about Bush's ads is that his advisers had months to prepare them. Though the commercials are all handsomely shot, and certainly portray Bush in a sympathetic light, they are likely to leave many viewers feeling at least somewhat uneasy about the state of their nation. And that could be a fatal failing for an incumbent president.