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Bush aides plan 2008 makeover Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei President Bush plans to use the next two weeks to defuse fights with Congress over the economy, laying the groundwork for a 2008 strategy aimed at assisting GOP candidates early on and improving his image at home and overseas, according to two senior White House officials. The emerging Bush blueprint begins this week with a preemptive strike on the mortgage crisis. With Democrats planning to focus extensively on the economy for the remainder of the year, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Monday said a deal to freeze mortgage interest rates for many people in danger of defaulting was close to completion. White House officials are considering additional relief for cash-strapped homeowners for debate early next year.
In many ways, White House officials have already turned their attention to the final year of the Bush presidency. Still bedeviled by the Democratic majority in Congress and saddled with the unpopular war in Iraq — even given the apparent security gains earned through Bush’s surge policy — presidential aides are realistic. They anticipate stalemates over Iraq funding, education, domestic spending and tax cuts. Humbled by decisive defeats on immigration and Social Security earlier in the second term, the Bush team instead is looking for other areas of possible agreement, such as incremental changes to health care and new incentives for energy production. “Our hope is that if we are proactive in pushing for good policy initiatives that are based on past successes, people will be reminded of earlier successes and any ‘legacy’ implications will be a byproduct,” one of the officials said. “We are looking forward, not back.”
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