Contingency Plan if the Democrats win in 2006

Let's say its election night this year and the Democrats have won control of the House of Representatives and gained seats in the Senate, making them partially in control of Congress. Liberals are rejoicing that they are back and Bush is through. It seems like the Republicans won't ever recover completely and that the Democrats are destined to establish themselves as a new majority for a generation or more. In this moment the dreams of the leftist bloggers and activists and the more moderate centrist Democrats appear to have come true. They have finally beaten Bush now and there is no way for him to recover, and he will go down in history as one of the worst Presidents our nation has ever had.

Is this destiny if the Democrats win control of the House of Representatives this November?

Perhaps.

Is it inevitable?

What is described here is a contingency plan in the event that the Democrats win control of the House of Representatives, which would provide for Bush's political comeback in time for the election of another Republican in 2008. The key to this plan is to accept that politicians are done in not only by their failures but by their successes, and sometimes putting the agenda of your opponent on the fast track makes them twist in the wind until election time having only their unpopular policies to propose.

The key to Bush's political comeback is to allow the Democrats to pass the popular elements of their proposals quickly, so they will enjoy a honeymoon with voters, but one that will be over by the time of the 2008 elections. Specifically, things like health care expansion and border security and college tuition tax credits should be allowed to pass. If something is going to be popular with voters as a whole but unpopular with the Republican base the strategy should be for the President to allow it to become law without his signature. Thus, as an arbiter he would be deeming the legislation unworthy for the American people, but would be allowing the Democrats to pass it to eliminate popular elements of their agenda. Putting their popular programs onto fast track are the key to this plan.

Then, they will have to move on to unpopular things, and begin their investigations of the administration. The strategy with the investigations is to turn public opinion against the investigators themselves, and specifically, the man who would be Judiciary Committee Chairman, John Conyers of Michigan, who believes the 2004 election was stolen and that Bush should be impeached. The focus of the attacks should be on any investigations of the domestic intelligence program to focus attention on Conyers and make him very unpopular personally. Nancy Pelosi should also be a target of attacks.

The way to do this is to run ads attacking Conyers by playing some of his more outrageous accusations and saying "is this the man you want overseeing the justice system of the United States in the House." Bush has the presidential microphone and would be able in addition to deliver that message. The ads should aim to drive down the popularity of Conyers with the public but to also goad him into continuing the investigation and making things worse for the Democrats with more outrageous allegations. The Democrats would not be able to abandon the investigations without being responsible for the alienation of their base of support from liberal voters who contribute large amounts of money to them.

Regaining the advantage on the budget is important also, and Bush should stand firm against any budget that doesn't dramatically reduce the deficit, but the reductions should come from cuts in unpopular programs. Popular things, including those passed by the Democrats should be allowed to remain in place. Bringing the Democrats in congress into a trainwreck confrontation over the budget, and if necessary shutting down the the government, would reestablish Bush's fiscal responsibility credentials. The key to the trainwreck is advertising to turn public opinion agianst them and only resolving the shutdown once great damage has been done.

Thus, having regained his popularity with voters, the President will not be a liability to the Republican candidate in 2008, but the Democrats base would be angry enough to want a liberal candidate to be their nominee in 2008. Then the key is to drive up the Republican candidate's margin high enough to overturn the Democrats majority in the House after only one congress.