Hillary Clinton's
campaign has just released a new commercial, called "Kitchen."
In the video, the narrator describes the toughest job in the world,
skyrocketing oil prices, two wars, and an economy in crisis. "Harry
Truman said it best, 'If you can't stand the HEAT, get out of the
kitchen.'"
Is this ill-timed or well-timed?
President George W. Bush has talked about being a modern-day Harry Truman
himself, and Hillary's campaign ad comes less than a week after the Houston Chronicle's article that Bush has beat Harry S.
Truman in the record for extended presidential unpopularity.
According to the Chronicle, Bush has passed Truman to set the record of
being the president with the longest consecutive stretch of job-approval
ratings below 50 percent since scientific public polling was
invented.
At 39 months, Bush passed Truman, who was on the wrong
side of the populace for the last 38 months of his presidency...hovering
around the 30 percent mark for job approval.
...Seventy percent of
Americans give Bush a thumbs-down for his handling of the economy - a
record. His rating for handling Iraq isn't much better: 33
percent like it but 65 percent do not....
...The number of people
who strongly disapprove of Bush is three times the number who strongly
approve.
Truman's presidency was tainted by
low public opinion ratings over his decisions, that were unpopular at the
time (though more respected in history's hindsight). The
Republicans made corruption in Truman's administration one of their major
issues in the 1952 campaign; Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower won the White
House the next year. However, many U.S. political experts today rank
Truman among the top ten presidents. But with the Bush/Truman
comparison surfacing as of late, I don't know that quoting Truman was the
Clinton campaign's best idea. Do you?
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At 39 months, Bush passed Truman, who was on the wrong
side of the populace for the last 38 months of his presidency...hovering
around the 30 percent mark for job approval.
