“Frankly, Republican strategists do not want to remind the American people of those eight years of Bush’s presidency — the foreign policy entanglements and the policies that set the stage for the economic collapse,” said Democratic strategist Mark Siegel.
“He is even divisive among people in Republican base,” Siegel added. “You hear conservatives attacking his unfunded entitlement programs, [and] the fact that we got into wars but didn’t pay for them.”
Chris Lehane, part of the braintrust in Al Gore’s unsuccessful 2000 campaign for president, said putting Romney and Bush together on the campaign trail would only play into President Obama’s hands as he seeks relection.
“It’s inherently problematic. Obama has this framework of ‘moving forward,’ not back,” Lehane said. “I don’t think anyone is a more powerful symbol of that past than President George W. Bush.”
Join the conversation as a VIP Member