Bush Labors to Shift Focus of Election

[Nambe]

Presidential Elections - AP

An unpopular war and 1.1 million lost jobs is enough to kill a presidency, so President Bush tried Thursday night to make the election about something else: himself and his leadership style.

He sought to make a virtue of his differences with half or more of the electorate, and cast Democratic rival John Kerry as a pandering, indecisive liberal unfit for wartime leadership.

"One thing I have learned about the presidency is that whatever shortcomings you have, people are going to notice them," the president said, "and whatever strengths you have, you're going to need them."

Rare to admit mistakes, Bush copped to a few — arrogant, too blunt and cocky, and explained them away with laugh lines. But he didn't give an inch on the matters that matter most, a war in Iraq (news - web sites) that has cost the lives of nearly 1,000 U.S. troops, and a job-loss record that rivals Herbert Hoover.

These two issues are fueling a sense of unease among voters, with nearly 60 percent saying the nation is headed in the wrong direction. Bush's big challenge was making Americans feel better about the course of their nation and the politics of their president, a task he tackled with a star-spangled political convention near Ground Zero, site of the nation's deadliest attack and a symbol of his wartime leadership. ..
Ride Don’t Drive * * It’s Global Cool

[KDLarsen]

1. Don't forget..

.. bashing Kerry is also an important issue! I wonder if anyone could actually be bothered to sit down and point out the amount of inaccuracies & lies that speech contained.