DESPERATE STRATEGY

by RAY FLEMING
PRESIDENT Bush probably won re-election two years ago because of his claim that as Commander-in-Chief he should not be replaced while the nation was at war. In 2004 there was a certain logic in the argument that the man who had started the job should be allowed to finish it. Does the logic still apply two years later as voters prepare for November mid-term elections which could take away Republican majorities in both Houses of Congress? A new TV advertisement, due to be run for the first time tonight, shows that Republican party strategists still believe that the best card they can play is the pursuit of the war on terror linked to security at home. The commercial shows Osama bin Laden speaking but the only sound is the ticking of a clock; bin Laden's words are captioned on the screen and the key phrases, such as “Kill all Americans” and “The battle has moved inside America”, are highlighted. The commercial ends with a credit for the Republican National Committee. This is a high-risk, even a desperate strategy. There is widespread sceptism about the ability of the Bush administration and the Republican majorities in Congress to bring the Iraq war to a satisfactory end. Mr Bush has frequently emphasized that Iraq is the seedbed of terrorism against the United States. Yet the advertisement asks for a vote of confidence in a party that has evidently failed to pursue the war on terror successfully.