Repetition

I've read a few posts here and there claiming that the Bush administration's latest problems with the war on Iraq come from a lack of repetition - that is repeated claims that the left is smearing the White House, that the intelligence was correct believed by everyone, etc. Jim Geraghty even has an article up at the National Review suggesting as much.

To those people, I ask them to cast back to earlier this summer when the President repeated his message over and over again and failed - during his campaign to change Social Security.

Folks, it's not how many times the message gets repeated, it's how well that message resonates with the public. And as that public starts to doubt the messenger, it's a lot harder for him to overcome that doubt with a new message.

Bush probably isn't going to win over a lot of people with his latest campaign. By suggesting we all fell for the same intelligence, he implies that the reasons we went to war in Iraq was wrong. That's not a winner for his side. And Democrats can refute in a logical manner that this isn't true. Wouldn't the President, after all, get more info that Congress? On a basic level, that makes sense to the American public. And that's why this message, no matter how many times it's repeated, simply isn't going to take.

The only way out of this for Bush is a bit of pander. Find something the people want and figure out a way to give it to them. Bush won't be able to raise his approval ratings by fighting his way out of the debate on Iraq. He will, however, be able to change the debate once he gets his approval ratings up.