Can 'blame Bush' still help the Democrats win?

Though Dems are bashing the GOP's "ideas" as warmed-over Bush policies — some pundits say the strategy is a loser in 2010

Will focusing on the Bush Administration's mistakes be enough to help the Democratic party in November?
(Image credit: Getty)

Once again, the Democrats are counting on the unpopularity of the George W. Bush administration to help them win an election. Republicans "don't have a single idea that's different than George Bush's ideas," President Barack Obama said at a recent fundraiser. "Instead, they're betting on amnesia." Bad tactic, say some commentators, who argue that the Dems better find a new talking point fast: (Watch a Fox News discussion about the anti-Bush tactic)

"Blame Bush"? I think not: The key problem with this strategy, says Frank Rich in The New York Times, is that "betting on amnesia is almost always a winning, not a losing, wager in America." And given the "radical" ideas the post-Bush GOP plans to institute if they win, the Democrats are actually "flattering the current GOP by accusing it of being a carbon copy of Bush."

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