# Should the PUSA be spending his time campaigning for senators? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 3, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993 "2006-11-03T17:12:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/1 "2006-11-03T17:12:51Z")
Aren’t there more presidential things he can be doing? I would expect him to go on record as supporting reps that he agrees with, but it appears he’s taking time off from being president to get his buddies re-elected. Does anyone else think this is an inappropriate use of his Presidential time? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Controvert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@The\_Controvert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Controvert)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/2 "2006-11-03T17:19:18Z")
Well, a cynic might say it’s better for him to spend his time campaigning than running (or screwing up) the country. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/3 "2006-11-03T17:45:50Z")
[shrug] It’s usual. One expects the POTUS to appear at (some) campaign rallies of his own party’s candidates. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/4 "2006-11-03T17:50:08Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] [shrug] It’s usual. One expects the POTUS to appear at (some) campaign rallies of his own party’s candidates. [/QUOTE] Did Clinton and Bush I and Reagan etc. spend as much time campaigning as Bush II does. I don’t recall the others devoting so much time and effort to it. But maybe I just wasn’t paying attention before. I feel like the President should be working for the benefit of all the people of the country, not his political party. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/5 "2006-11-03T17:50:57Z")
Actually, I was reading an article the other day that said that most of those running don’t WANT Bush around…in fact, several of them have ignored him when he has wandered into their state. 😛 As for whether its right or not…well, probably not. But its been going on for quite a long time, so I don’t see any help for it. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/6 "2006-11-03T17:53:36Z")
All recent Presidents have done it. I recall Reagan making a big push in 1986 to try and preserve the GOP Senate majority. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/7 "2006-11-03T17:54:34Z")
[QUOTE=Hey you!] I feel like the President should be working for the benefit of all the people of the country, not his political party. [/QUOTE] It’s a political position. He is the titular head of his party. I have no problem with it. One could make a case that by attempting to drum up support for his party’s candidates, he is working for the the country. In order to do what he feels is in the country’s benefit, he will need his party to remain in control of Congress. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/8 "2006-11-03T17:55:36Z")
[QUOTE=Hey you!] Did Clinton and Bush I and Reagan etc. spend as much time campaigning as Bush II does. I don’t recall the others devoting so much time and effort to it. But maybe I just wasn’t paying attention before. I feel like the President should be working for the benefit of all the people of the country, not his political party. [/QUOTE] Reagan and Bush didn’t have the opportunity to effect change by campaigning for their party’s candidates. Clinton had no reason to expect that the Congress would go Republican for the first time in 40 years. Bush, on the other hand, is in the position of watching his party (potentially) lose control right before his eyes, and he is campaigning in an attempt to forestall that from happening. As the leader of his party he has a certain obligation to do something and not just watch from the sidelines. Of course, that’s really a question of how you feel about partisan politics. The President is not apolitical, and it is unreasonable to asume that he ever will be. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/9 "2006-11-03T18:06:23Z")
[QUOTE=Hey you!] … it appears he’s taking time off from being president to get his buddies re-elected. [/QUOTE] What is more presidential than seeking to get enough supporters elected to ensure that his programs are passed into law? I’d want to see this quanitified before I accepted the idea that GWB is doing it more than his predecessors. Presidents have spent a substantial portion of their waking hours politicking for a great many years. One way to get one’s own platform enacted is to make periodic appearances in public locations to urge the electorate to press Congress to pass one’s favored legislation. One public forum for making such appeals is at campaign appearances for preferred candidates where one has a dual opportunity: one to push the platform and the other to ensure that a supporter of that platform gets elected to provide supporting votes in Congress. It very certainly has not started with GWB; There were many stories of congresscritters asking Carter in 1980, Reagan in 1986 and 1988, Bush in 1992 and Clinton in 2000 to stay away from their campaigns to avoid “contamination” as well as stories of congresscritters happily accepting support from Reagan in 1982 and 1984 and Clinton prior to the impeachment process. Both sets of stories imply that Presidential campaigning for congresscritters is more typical than not. (For that matter, I have seen several stories of incumbents asking that GWB not endorse them this election, indicating that he is probably not doing it as often as he might have.) ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/10 "2006-11-03T18:13:03Z")
Given the approval ratings he’s been racking up, I’d love to see him doing a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/11 "2006-11-03T18:15:54Z")
Having Bush come in and campaign for you has GOT to be the kiss of death for any Republican. I’d think the Dems would be overjoyed to have him make appearences in any state that is in contention. 😛 -XT ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/12 "2006-11-03T18:48:11Z")
A Tagalog-speaker might think that the title of this thread is about a cat. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/13 "2006-11-03T19:06:44Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] Having Bush come in and campaign for you has GOT to be the kiss of death for any Republican. [/QUOTE] That’s a little strong. I agree he’d be the **KOD** for **most** republicans, but look at the numbers for [this Nebraska district](http://www.dccc.org/stakeholder/archives/005516.html): > [@](#): > > Fun facts about the “swing” Nebraska district that President Bush is forced to campaign in: > > ``` > * In 1992, Bill Clinton came in third place in the congressional district -- achieving only 23% of the vote > * In 1996, Clinton increased his standing to win 29% of the vote > * President George W. Bush received 71% then 75% in the district > * Republicans have held this seat for 48 years LINK > * Nebraska tied Utah in giving Clinton his biggest margin of defeat in the country LINK > * It was the 50th state visited by President Clinton LINK > * In most recent polling, Scott Kleeb, the Democrat, is beating the Republican candidate 46-40 LINK > > ``` Bush is barely under 50% for Nebraska as a whole, so he _must_ still have a _little_ pull in the state’s republican bastion. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/14 "2006-11-03T19:49:25Z")
> [@AD](#): > > Reagan and Bush didn’t have the opportunity to effect change by campaigning for their party’s candidates. 😕 Can you explain this remark? I don’t understand it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/15 "2006-11-03T19:55:39Z")
Actually, I’d worry a lot more about less visible things the Admin has been doing to bolster the Pubs’ electoral changes, at taxpayer expense. You can find many of these described in [_One Party Country: The Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century,_](http://www.amazon.com/One-Party-Country-Republican-Dominance/dp/0471776726/sr=8-1/qid=1162583604/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-7814617-7839034?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallstein. (This book, BTW, is not the screaming screed the title might suggest; in fact, when discussing the deeds of Rove et al., its tone is not damnatory but congratulatory, and the thesis is that the Pubs are seeking the kind of “dominance” the Dems had under FDR and Truman, not the kind the Communist Party had in the Soviet Union.) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2006, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/16 "2006-11-03T21:07:05Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Actually, I’d worry a lot more about less visible things the Admin has been doing to bolster the Pubs’ electoral changes, at taxpayer expense. You can find many of these described in [_One Party Country: The Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century,_](http://www.amazon.com/One-Party-Country-Republican-Dominance/dp/0471776726/sr=8-1/qid=1162583604/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-7814617-7839034?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallstein. (This book, BTW, is not the screaming screed the title might suggest; in fact, when discussing the deeds of Rove et al., its tone is not damnatory but congratulatory, and the thesis is that the Pubs are seeking the kind of “dominance” the Dems had under FDR and Truman, not the kind the Communist Party had in the Soviet Union.) [/QUOTE] Despite the assorted GOP shenanigans and how they may affect Tuesday’s midterms, I’d say a book with that title belongs in the same pile as that 1999 hit, [Dow 36,000](http://www.amazon.com/DOW-36-000-Strategy-Profiting/dp/0812931459/sr=1-1/qid=1162587923/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-5926669-2097741?ie=UTF8&s=books). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/17 "2006-11-04T03:31:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Aren’t there more presidential things he can be doing? I would expect him to go on record as supporting reps that he agrees with, but it appears he’s taking time off from being president to get his buddies re-elected. Does anyone else think this is an inappropriate use of his Presidential time? Ensuring his supporters get elected to office is definitely part of a President’s job. Having supporters in Congress is a key necessity for a President in managing events. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/18 "2006-11-04T04:22:37Z")
[QUOTE=Kimstu] 😕 Can you explain this remark? I don’t understand it. [/QUOTE] Reagan and G.H.W. Bush could have campaigned until they were blue in the face and it still wouldn’t have effected any change in the composition of the Congress. The Democrats were well entrenched during their terms in office. That’s why it was so stunning to see the Republicans take over in 1994 with their “Contract With America”. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/19 "2006-11-04T04:47:54Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > Reagan and G.H.W. Bush could have campaigned until they were blue in the face and it still wouldn’t have effected any change in the composition of the Congress. The Democrats were well entrenched during their terms in office. Thanks for the explanation. But actually, that’s not entirely true: the Senate was Republican-controlled for four years of Reagan’s administration, in '81-'82 and '85-'86. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993/20 "2006-11-04T16:25:35Z")
That the Prez will go on the campaign trail for his preferred candidates is not a bad thing. What annoys me is when the President says that there is not enough time for him to be deposed, or to provide needed information to Congress, due to his busy schedule, but there is somehow time for him to go to fundraisers and campaign for others. That doesn’t add up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-pusa-be-spending-his-time-campaigning-for-senators/378993.md?page=2)