Bush needs to conquer problem

I think if you know what you believe, it makes it a lot easier to answer questions…I can't answer your question." This is President George W. Bush at his best, trying to respond to a question about whether he wished he could take back any of his answers in the first presidential debate. All too often President Bush finds himself having trouble answering questions, indeed, even communicating effectively.\nAt least he's willing to admit it, though. At a recent dinner in Washington, Bush did a great rendition of his most absurd statements. Even better, most were read directly from a recently published liberal political-attack book. He just walked up to the podium and read some of the book out loud.\nDuring the campaign, late-night talk show hosts fed off Bush's verbal gaffs like a baby being nurse-fed. The President's grammar, or lack thereof, can make even his biggest supporters squirm. Bush's problem, though, goes deeper than mere grammar.\nI remember being giddy on days of Presidential debates (I actually got out popcorn and Cokes), only to be disappointed that President Bush wouldn't even respond to some of Gore's biggest arguments. Al Gore would continually argue that the top 1 percent would get to keep too much of their own money under Bush's tax relief plan, even though that group pays more than 30 percent of all tax dollars.\nWhile this is an expected and predictable argument from Gore, Gov. Bush let the argument go unanswered. In one of the debates, I counted Gore mentioning the phrase "wealthiest 1 percent" close to ten times. I was shocked at Bush's weak, and often non-existent response each time.\nNow tax relief is no longer a proposal or idea, but real legislation that's passed both the House and Senate and, assuming it goes through committee, it should be on the President's desk by June.\nUnfortunately, Bush has the same problem selling the real tax relief package and budget as he did with the idea during the debates. While signing the $1.35 trillion tax relief package will be an enormous political "win," it's largely just because of the Republican controlled Congress, not the Bush administration's superior communication skills.\nHis budget proposal pays down the "national debt" faster than any leader has ever done in history. In fact, if we did it any faster, the government would have to pay a premium on bonds and Americans would actually lose money. Nevertheless, the Bush administration did little in responding to complaints that the budget's tax cut was too big and that he should instead pay down the national debt. He merely told Reuters, "It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it" (not exactly a great response).\nAs someone who supports lowering tax rates (especially the top bracket), it upsets me that the President isn't responding to the biggest liberal arguments. This is the same case when it comes to energy, education, arsenic, judges, the environment, and on and on.\nBack in my glory days of high school I loved to compete in speech and debate tournaments. One of our fundamental rules was that a debater should never "drop" an argument because the opposition would automatically win that point. By not responding to an attack, you were essentially admitting it was true. President Bush should not continue to do this, nor can he afford to politically.\nMany liberals must be thinking, "This is great. Bush is struggling to communicate and sell his policies." Unfortunately, this problem runs deeper than just politics and into management of the administration.\nTake foreign policy for instance, where defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld erroneously issued a memo stating the United States would suspend all military contracts with China. The mainstream media caught wind of it and this communication breakdown nearly caused an international crisis. Bush forced Rumsfeld to retract the memo and within hours Secretary Rumsfeld was on TV, all but blaming it on one of his aides.\nPerhaps I'm being too harsh on President Bush. After all, he will sign the largest tax relief package in a generation, he handled the "spy plane standoff" well and his approval ratings are staying relatively high.\nBut if Bush doesn't learn how to handle media communication, his future proposals won't enjoy such success. Bush once said, "Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?" To ask the question in a better way, rarely are conservatives asking: Is Bush communicating effectively? With so much at stake, it's crucial that the Bush administration do a better job selling its agenda and setting the framework for debate. President Bush cannot always count on Congress and grassroots conservatives to do it for him. After all, that's part of what leadership is all about.