George W. Bush, Will You Please Go Now!

President Bush registers the lowest approval rating of his presidency—making him the least popular president since Nixon—in the new NEWSWEEK Poll.

In 19 months, George W. Bush will leave the White House for the last time. The latest NEWSWEEK Poll suggests that he faces a steep climb if he hopes to coax the country back to his side before he goes. In the new poll, conducted Monday and Tuesday nights, President Bush’s approval rating has reached a record low. Only 26 percent of Americans, just over one in four, approve of the job the 43rd president is doing; while, a record 65 percent disapprove, including nearly a third of Republicans.

In 1974, at the height of Watergate, Ted Geisel, A.K.A. Dr. Seuss, accepted a dare from his friend the satirist Art Buchwald to write a political book. He sent Buchwald a copy of his Bright & Early reader Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now! with the name of the title character crossed out.

In its place, the name "Richard M. Nixon" was written in. With Geisel's permission, Buchwald reprinted the altered book in his syndicated column, thus:

The time has come.
The time is now.
Just go.
Go.
Go!
You can go by foot.
You can go by cow.
Richard M. Nixon, will you please go now!

Can't think why I thought of that.

Onward!

...the White House cannot pin his rating on the war alone. Bush scores record or near record lows on every major issue: from the economy (34 percent approve, 60 percent disapprove) to health care (28 percent approve, 61 percent disapprove) to immigration (23 percent approve, 63 percent disapprove). And—in the worst news, perhaps, for the crowded field of Republicans hoping to succeed Bush in 2008—50 percent of Americans disapprove of the president’s handling of terrorism and homeland security. Only 43 percent approve, on an issue that has been the GOP’s trump card in national elections since 9/11.

If there is any good news for Bush and the Republicans in the latest NEWSWEEK Poll, it’s that the Democratic-led Congress fares even worse than the president. Only 25 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing.

Imagine how we'd feel if they actually started doing the job we elected them to do and getting things done. Or, to put it another way: Can we impeach them nooooooooooooooooooooooooow?

Newsweek poll via Mark Evanier, who thinks Bush's real ratings may be even lower than these numbers indicate. Why? Because (among other reasons):

We also have folks who may think Bush is a disaster but they like what he stands for...or at least what they thought he stood for when they punched out the chads by his name. To them, the fall of Bush is a victory for those who want to allow gay marriage, keep abortion legal, restrict gun ownership, etc. — so they won't say they disapprove of him even though they do. (I heard a guy on C-Span the other day who seemed to think that if Bush's approval rating gets low enough, John Kerry gets to finish out his term.)

If only.