A new rug, with mud stains

By COKIE ROBERTS AND STEVEN V. ROBERTS

One of the perks of being president is commissioning a new rug for the Oval Office. President Bush has recently been telling visitors that he turned the task over to his wife with one admonition: The design should send the message that "an optimist works here." The pattern she selected, featuring a burst of sunlike rays, fills the bill.

We thought of the president's new carpet when we read a recent survey from the Pew Research Center measuring the state of the nation's happiness. Forty-five percent of Republicans call themselves "very happy," while only 30 percent of Democrats feel blissful.

The president's rug, and the Pew survey, both reflect a critical political fact: Republicans are far better than Democrats at capturing the flag of optimism. Americans always prefer sunny, positive leaders. It's part of our national character.

The master of optimism was Ronald Reagan. Even his nickname, The Gipper, reflected his unwavering belief in a better future. It came from a role he played in the movies, a doomed football player named George Gipp, who told his coach, Knute Rockne, that when things looked bleak, he should rally the team by urging them to "win one for The Gipper."

President Bush sometimes sounds like Rockne following Reagan's advice. Before his State of the Union speech, he promised reporters that "I'm going to continue to talk about an optimistic agenda." In his address, he derided "defeatists" and said of Iraq: "We are in this fight, and we are winning."

The problem for the president is that all his talk about a better future is clashing with the headlines and TV images. No matter how many times he repeats words like "winning" and "victory," rising chaos and casualties in Iraq undermine his optimism, as do automobile industry layoffs and lingering post-Katrina problems.

Poll numbers reflect this. AP/Ipsos reports that 61 percent think the country is "on the wrong track." In a CNN survey, the same number says the president has "done something that made you angry."

Clearly, Bush has lost the happiness advantage. Team Bush knows how critical it is to occupy the sunny side of the street. That's why Republican chairman Ken Mehlman is already attacking Hillary Clinton as displaying "a lot of anger." And why the Bush camp spread rumors in 2000 about John McCain's vicious temper. "I don't think the American people, if you look historically, elect angry candidates," says Mehlman, and he's right.

But can Bush's optimism reverse his political slide? Can it wipe away the muddy footprints of reality soiling his nice new rug?

(Steve and Cokie Roberts are syndicated columnists.)

Napa Valley Register Copyright © 2009