None of this would be a concern if Diebold had better data security
Job No. 1 for Bush
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Friday, March 12, 2004; Page A23
"Ohio's unemployment rate is higher than the national average; manufacturing communities like Youngstown and Cleveland have been hit especially hard. . . . I know there are workers here concerned about their jobs going overseas. I share that concern. . . . There are those with good jobs who worry about their health care and their retirement benefits. There are a lot of moms and dads who wonder whether or not their child will be able to find a job in the community in which they were raised."
Those words aren't an excerpt from an old John Edwards speech about the "Two Americas," or a new John Kerry speech lashing the Bush economy. That's President Bush himself, speaking on Wednesday in Cleveland. They are the admissions of a man who knows he's in a desperate race to redefine how Americans see this election-year economy.
The first two months of 2004 will be remembered as the moment Americans shifted their view of Bush's economic stewardship. The politicians' private polls and the public polls tell the same story: Americans who began to have faith in the economic recovery a few months ago are now losing it.
This puts Bush in the tricky position of having to do many things at once. He needs to make clear he understands that people are hurting. He needs to offload blame. He needs to convince voters that things can only get better -- and that his opponents will only make things worse.
