Bush Blunders Into Equal Footing With Davis

When the president holds a “summit” with a governor, you can figure one of three things: this president--politically--is weak, desperate or inept.

With President Bush, we’ve just seen indications of all three.

Presidents of the United States simply do not hold summits with governors--of any state. Presidents hold summits with leaders of equal stature: other heads of state or prime ministers.

A governor is not a head of state.

Sacramento is not a little Washington. It’s a big Carson City.

Ronald Reagan never held a summit with Jerry Brown. Bill Clinton barely acknowledged the existence of Pete Wilson.

So why would this Republican president fly across country to elevate a Democratic governor to the exalted level of summitry? Must be that Bush has looked at private polls and seen he is weaker in California than he’d ever imagined possible, even after losing here last November by 12 points.

Indeed, the independent Field Poll recently found that 54% of Californians think Bush has done a “poor” job of trying to improve the state’s energy mess.

It’s desperation time. Better get out to California and show that he does too care about the nation’s most populous state before it’s too late--before the damage is irreparable. Before he’s a liability to Republican members of Congress, whose reelections next year will be crucial to the GOP’s continued control of the U.S. House.

And better make that first trip to California about public policy--not about political fund-raising.

But the president could have--should have--avoided what the news media would characterize as a summit. On the governor’s L.A. turf, no less. This was political ineptitude.

Weeks ago, Bush could have invited Gov. Gray Davis into the Oval Office for a chat. Then he could have dismissed any later calls for a second meeting, saying there was nothing new to discuss.

Or Bush could have sent his energy guru, Vice President Dick Cheney, to meet with Davis. Then there wouldn’t have been the summit circus that elevated a governor, in news coverage, to the level of a president.

But Bush set his own trap by declaring, even before taking office, that California was on its own. He ignored the state for four months, then was goaded into a summit.

“We outfoxed them,” says Paul Maslin, Davis’ pollster. “We turned up the heat and made it politically impossible for Bush not to meet.”

Consequently, there was the specter of a governor’s “post-summit” news conference being carried live on CNN. And split screens with Bush on one side, Davis on the other, both waving presidential-like. Davis sit-down interviews with all networks. The story at the top of the nightly news.

One national TV reporter spoke ominously of a “rift” between the governor and the president. A newspaper banner screamed: “Bush-Davis Standoff.”

Presidents simply do not have standoffs with governors who are poking them in the eye.

However, it was Bush to the rescue--not of energy consumers, but the governor. Davis remains one lucky politician. Here he is, foundering in the polls--his job rating down to 42%, according to Field--and the president rides out to save him.

Bush helped Davis onto a tall platform and handed him a loud mike to make his pitch to California voters. The governor made it over and over:

This is not about the philosophy of price controls. It’s about federal regulators ignoring a law that requires wholesale prices to be “just and reasonable.” Enforcing that law is solely a federal responsibility.

I’m doing everything I can to increase supply. The president needs to rein in his buddies--those gougers and market gamers from Texas.

“This is no time for harsh rhetoric,” Bush said. “It’s certainly no time for name-calling.”

The president’s certainly wrong. It’s time to call out and embarrass--if possible--the power pirates who are turning 700% profits. Take 40% and be satisfied. Spare us a recession.

“Price caps may sound appealing,” Bush asserted, “but their result will ultimately be more serious shortages and therefore even higher prices.”

Wrong again. California didn’t suffer supply-caused blackouts until the Feds lifted wholesale price caps last December and power producers began gaming the market to finesse top dollar. In fact, most power plants now being built in California began under price caps.

Bush likes to hearken back 30 years to failed price controls under Richard Nixon. But if Nixon’s mind had been as inflexible as Bush’s, he never would have gone to China.

Now that was a summit.