White House can’t stop referring to Bush
The new national security strategy document can’t stop referring to Bush policies, according to the NYT.
Can’t those White House people see that this makes them (and Obama) look reactive, weak and dependent? If Bush’s legacy extends this deeply into the Obama administration, that makes him one of the most influential recent presidents, doesn’t it? All the blaming and finger-pointing just ends up giving Bush more power, not to mention making the finger-pointers look silly and weak. Bush’s relative silence only increases the effect and makes him look classy by comparison.
The proper strategy, if you want to diminish a former president, is to ignore him and don’t acknowledge or give him any credit when your policies happen to coincide with his. Let the pundits tussle over it, and don’t publicly show that you care too much about that either.