WANDERINGS, with Walter Brasch

George W. Bush—By the Numbers

George W. Bush likes numbers. A day after he received 50.7 percent of the vote in the 2004 general election, he decided he had a mandate.

At a White House press conference, one of the few he held in four years, President Bush told America, “[T]here is a feeling that the people have spoken and embraced your point of view, and that's what I intend to tell the Congress” His victory, he said, “is like earning capital. . . . I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it. It is my style.”

But, George W. Bush also doesn’t like numbers. First, there’s the economy. When Bush came into office. Bill Clinton left him a $230 billion surplus and a balanced budget. Not only isn’t the budget balanced, that surplus from five years ago has turned into a $7.95 trillion deficit, increasing at the rate of about $1.7 billion a day. That’s about $27,000 for every American, including those who are unemployed.

Part of that deficit is because of his ill-conceived tax cuts. In his first year in office, Bush pushed through a $1.35 trillion tax cut, followed by almost $400 billion in additional cuts, which primarily relieved the financial burden of the wealthy. The top one percent of wage earners, those making at least $356,000 a year, received 45 percent of the cuts, with their share rising to almost 52 percent by 2010. The 36 million Americans who are living below the poverty line have little concern about the tax cuts since they receive almost no benefit. Nevertheless, Bush claimed the tax cuts would spur the economy and create more jobs. In the 30 months after the tax cuts were announced, 2.4 million jobs were lost.

Last month, more than 7.5 million Americans who wanted work were unemployed. Another 1.5 million, several hundred thousand of whom are so discouraged they have given up trying to find work, weren’t included in that number because they didn’t report to a state or federal office. About three million are homeless; mostly, they aren’t counted in unemployment statistics. Not worrying about unemployment are the oil company executives whose companies are receiving about $11 billion in government incentives for oil exploration, and recording their highest profits ever.

Since President Bush’s inauguration in January 2001, about 2.7 million manufacturing jobs and almost 850,000 professional and trade sector jobs have been outsourced to other countries, according to research conducted by the AFL-CIO. Most of the manufacturing jobs have gone to Mexico , China , and several Asian countries. Professional telemarketing and technical support jobs to assist American consumers on everything from computers to playground slides have gone to India and other countries. The Bush Administration pushed through a $20 billion tax reduction plan that resulted in an 85 percent tax cut on profits earned in foreign countries. The tax cut has little to do with stimulating the languid economy, increasing jobs in America , or helping the unemployed; it does encourage corporations to develop more overseas operations.

About 45 million Americans, including about nine million children, don’t have health insurance, according to the American Public Health Association. The United States is the only country in the developed nations that doesn’t have universal health care.

When it comes to numbers, there’s also that pesky “War on Terror.” The number “six” is important. Before the invasion of Iraq , Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed the fighting “could last six days, six weeks, I doubt six months.” It’s now been more than two and a half-years, and the Commander-in-Chief now tells us, “Our efforts in Iraq and the broader Middle East will require more time, more sacrifice and continued resolve .” There’s $4–5 billion a month to sustain the war. There are 150,000 troops in Iraq , with about 40 percent of them National Guard and Reserve. However, pay increases for soldiers who have given up their families and hometown jobs to serve in a war zone for at least a year is not in the Bush philosophy. A proposal for a $75 a month increase in “imminent danger” pay (to $150) and a $150 a month “family separation allowance” increase (to $250) was opposed by the Pentagon which claimed the budget couldn’t handle a $300 million temporary addition; ironically, $300 million is almost as much as the Bush re-election campaign spent. There’s also the $1.7 billion no-bid contracts awarded to Halliburton, where Vice-President Dick Cheney resided as CEO for five years, and accepted a $13.6 million “retirement” package. But, there’s an even more important set of numbers. Almost 2,000 American soldiers have died in Iraq ; about 15,000 have been wounded, several hundred permanently disabled. The number “92” is also important. That’s the percent of those killed since their Commander-in-Chief declared on May 1, 2003 , that major combat operations were over. That number, 92, is likely to get very close to 100 before American troops leave Iraq .

Shortly after 9/11, Bush declared he was going after the terrorists who caused 9/11—“We will smoke them out of their holes. We’ll get them running and we’ll bring them to justice.” As to Osama bin Laden, he vowed he’d get him “dead or alive.” About six months after 9/11, Bush said, “I truly am not that concerned about him.” So, let’s look at the number “O,” as in the number of times the world’s most wanted enemy has been captured.

Of course, most Americans have forgotten Afghanistan . The Taliban government that hid bin Laden had received a $43 million gift from newly-inaugurated president Bush in April 2001. There are about 16,000 American soldiers in Afghanistan ; there are almost 240 American soldiers who were killed there since October 2001.

And then there are the polls. President Bush especially doesn’t like polls. “You know, if a president tries to govern based upon polls, you're kind of like a dog chasing your tail,” he told Americans, and then explained that a politician can’t “make good, sound decisions based upon polls.” He said he didn’t think “the American people want a president who relies upon polls and focus groups to make decisions for the American people.” But those numbers help reveal American beliefs and values.

First the good news. Although 56 percent of Americans believe their president is arrogant, 64 percent say he is a strong person and 63 percent say he’s likeable, according to an Associated Press/Ipsos poll. A CBS News/New York Times poll gives the president his highest number—77 percent believe he has a vision of how he wants to lead the country.

But, a president has to be more than a likeable chap who has a plan. It makes little difference which independent poll results you believe, they all show numbers that reveal a nation that has lost confidence in its leader. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll reveals only 49 percent of Americans approve of Bush’s job performance. His lowest ratings are in the Harris and CNN/USA Today/Gallup polls, which reveal that only 40 percent of Americans approve his job performance. In between are the Zogby American poll (45 percent), Rasmussen Reports and CBS News polls (both 43 percent), and the Associated Press/Ipsos and Newsweek/Princeton Survey Research Associates polls (both 42 percent). Even with a margin of error of three percent per poll, his job performance ranges from a low of 37 percent to an absolute high of 52 percent. (In contrast, according to research conducted the five largest independent polls, as well as one conducted regularly by the conservative FOX News, Bill Clinton’s job performance ratings, even when he was embroiled in a sex scandal, seldom dropped below 60 percent, and were usually in the mid- to upper 60s and 70s.)

President Bush likes to consider himself to be a “war president.” To prove it, he trumpets 9/11 at every campaign stop and official appearance. For the most part, Americans, even into the 2004 election, went along with the White House spin that Bush was strong on the defense of the country. In May 2003, about 69 percent of Americans gave him a favorable rating. However, slightly more than two years later, an AP/Ipsos poll reveals only 38 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the war in Iraq . A Newsweek poll reveals only 34 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the war. Americans believe there is no sense of mission in Iraq . They know there was inadequate post-invasion planning, that the soldiers don’t have the proper body and vehicle armor, and that the military hospitals and the VA are not prepared to handle the heavy casualties following the “end of major operations.” Nevertheless, Dick Cheney says he is “absolutely convinced we did the right thing in Iraq .” He claims the United States is making major progress in Iraq .