Bush’s Legacy Under Tony Snow: All-Time Low Poll Numbers, Legislative Defeats

When Tony Snow took over as White House Press Secretary on April 26, 2006, the media and pundits predicted that he would turn around the President’s image and help push forward his agenda:

Bush’s first press secretary, Ari Fleischer, said Snow and other staff changes offer the chance to show Americans that “something new may come from the White House” and that Bush deserves a second look. [MSNBC, 4/26/06]

“An outsider with a somewhat happy-go-lucky attitude could help externally, but also internally,” said [William] Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, because staffers tend to get “so defensive after years of getting pummeled.” [Washington Post, 4/26/06]

“We want fresh thinking, to charge the batteries, and passionate participation,” said Dan Bartlett, a top Bush adviser. “There is a lot of value added in Tony coming on board and helping us internally with his own views and ideas. It fits into the mold.” [Washington Post, 4/27/06]

On Wednesday, Snow’s appointment, which had been rumored for days, got positive reviews by Republicans on the Hill, including from one senior GOP leadership aide who told NEWSWEEK it was “great news.” “He’ll give some good outside-the-box thinking for the White House,” said the Republican aide.” [Newsweek, 4/27/06]

But Snow has been unable to sell Bush and his policies to the American public. For the past year, Bush’s poll numbers have continued to fall, dropping to all-time lows and rivaling Richard Nixon’s ratings right before he resigned from office:

Additionally, nothing “new” has come from the White House in the past year, and Snow’s “good outside-the-box thinking” has been largely rejected by the public. Even right-wing pundits Charles Krauthammer and Fred Barnes recently admitted that the White House has “no agenda.” As the Washington Post noted in July:

But the president’s unpopularity has left the White House to play mostly defense for the remainder of his term. With his immigration overhaul proposal dead, Bush’s principal legislative hopes are to save his No Child Left Behind education program and to fend off attempts to force him to change course in Iraq. The emerging strategy is to play off a Congress that is also deeply unpopular and to look strong by vetoing spending bills.

Looks like even Tony Snow couldn’t spin around the White House.

UPDATE: Tim Grieve at Salon has highlights during Snow’s tenure.