Critics Take the Lead in Defining Bush's Legacy

P resident Bush and his advisers have long insisted they are not interested in dwelling on his presidential legacy, saying they want to "sprint to the finish" in getting things done this year. But if that's truly the case, they may well be ceding the field to their critics.

Part of that can be seen in some of the titles that have cropped up in bookstores, from "The Bush Tragedy" and "Utter Incompetents: Ego and Ideology in the Age of Bush" to "The Fall of the House of Bush" and "Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy."

A negative verdict on Bush also animates the work of the Bush Legacy Project, launched recently by the liberal advocacy group Americans United for Change, which announced plans to spend $8.5 million over the next year to keep the public focused on what it considers the administration's many failures.

Much of the money will be devoted to advertising: The group aired a spot in Kansas City last week, timed to coincide with a Bush fundraiser Friday for Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.). The group is also planning to create a Bush Legacy Bus, a rolling museum that will carry such artifacts as a piece of timber from a flooded home in New Orleans or the combat boots of a fallen soldier in Iraq. Organizers intend to take the bus into the congressional districts of GOP lawmakers to remind voters that Bush received key support for many of his policies from rank-and-file Republicans.

"No one shows up to be with Bush, but they vote with Bush on the floor," said Brad Woodhouse, the president of Americans United. The group receives much of its funding from unions and made its mark in the effort to sink the president's plan to create personal accounts in Social Security.

The effort calls to mind the previous Reagan Legacy Project, in which anti-tax activist Grover Norquist sought to persuade states and localities to name buildings after the 40th president to burnish his place in history.

Norquist, in an interview, allowed that he found what Americans United is doing to be "interesting," noting, "If you define what happened, then you get to define the lessons of history."

But he expressed skepticism the group would gain much traction, saying that neither of the leading GOP presidential contenders, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, are "handcuffing themselves to the Bush legacy."

Woodhouse said the group's efforts may have been subconsciously influenced by the example of Reagan, whose approval ratings improved over the last two years of his presidency after reaching a nadir during the Iran-contra scandal. "We are all aware of how the Reagan legacy has really framed the public debate for 20 years," he noted.

But that might not have happened if Reagan's approval ratings had remained low until the end of his presidency, and it is not inconceivable, Woodhouse adds, that Bush's ratings could climb 10 to 15 points between now and Jan. 20. That's what the Bush Legacy Project aims to stop, though Woodhouse says the effort is not just about tamping down public approval for the president.

"What we are worried about," he said, "is that people will say Bush was a bad president, but his ideology was okay."

Conservatives are reacting with scorn to the new initiative, characterizing it as the latest incarnation of what they consider to be an irrational hatred for Bush among many liberals. Asked for comment about the group's expenditures, White House press secretary Dana Perino said, "Is that the price of bitterness these days?"