President is switching to offensive

President Bush has come off the sidelines and waded into the 2008 elections while trying to shift blame for the struggling economy to Democrats in Congress.

Bush’s Rose Garden announcement on Monday that he would lift an executive ban on offshore oil drilling and a Tuesday news conference where he hit Democrats on the economy were clear efforts to score points in the public relations war against a Democratic-led Congress, several Democrats said.

{mosads}On Tuesday, the president even waded into the presidential campaign — something he said he has been “loath” to do — by telling Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to rise above politics and listen to commanders on the ground when the Illinois senator visits the Middle East next week. Bush even mentioned the name of a prominent liberal group that has endorsed Obama.

“I understand for some in Washington there’s a lot of pressure; you got these groups out there — MoveOn.org, you know — banging away on these candidates, and it’s hard to kind of divorce yourself from the politics,” Bush said.

Republicans interviewed for this story said the White House actions this week simply show a president doing his job by addressing the economic and national security concerns of Americans.

Congressional Democrats, however, said Bush is obviously looking to involve himself into 2008 political arena.

“I think he has injected himself in the campaign,” Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said. “He made campaign speeches when he was overseas. He makes campaign speeches all the time. That’s what he’s doing now. He’s trying to save his legacy, and save John McCain.”

Bush is also trying to help Republicans in Congress running in a hostile political environment by laying the blame for record-high gas prices and a crumbling housing market at the door of Capitol Hill Democrats. Congress’s overall approval rating under Democrats is lower than Bush’s own dismal numbers, yet congressional Republicans have lost several special elections this year and are widely expected to lose more House seats in November.

This week’s actions by the president are also seen as affecting the presidential race. Although Bush endorsed McCain in a Rose Garden ceremony after the Arizona senator clinched the GOP nomination, the White House until Tuesday had repeatedly refused to get involved in the daily back-and-forth between the presidential campaigns.

One Republican official responded to a question about Bush’s perceived entrance into the race by saying that the “entire party” will be focused on highlighting Obama’s record.

On Tuesday, one Democratic strategist said the White House helped “bracket” the Democratic candidate by scheduling a news conference before an anticipated major policy address by Obama on Iraq and Afghanistan, which was followed by a McCain speech on Afghanistan. Obama was even forced to delay his previously scheduled address so that it would not overlap with the Bush news conference.

Charlie Black, a senior adviser to McCain, said there was no coordination between the campaign and the White House prior to Tuesday’s events.

Bush has already been helping Republicans by raising money. Despite the poor poll numbers, Bush’s fundraising is largely credited with the wild success the Republican National Committee (RNC) and some GOP incumbents have had in what was expected to be a tough year.

Several Republicans said the president is committed to influencing policy, not the election. They said Bush’s efforts this week weren’t made with an eye toward November.

Dan Schnur, McCain’s communications director in 2000, said the president’s involvement in the election is “something that happens on the natural.”

“When the president makes news during an election year, he’s in the middle of the campaign whether he wants to be or not,” Schnur said.

But Bush has unmistakably sought this week to portray the Democratic-controlled Congress as responsible for the crumbling economy due to its inaction.

One Republican strategist said that avoiding politics is impossible when the president must make statements to pursue his agenda. “His greatest priority is still winning the issue debate with the Democrats, whether his name is on the ballot or not,” the strategist said.

Other Republicans noted, however, that political strategy has always been a part of Bush’s DNA.

“His very nature is to be political,” said former Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Texas).

But Bonilla said that he expects Bush to defer to McCain’s campaign in terms of political strategy for the presidential contest.

The former congressman also noted that Bush’s political skills require a degree of realism about the White House’s approval ratings.

“I don’t know that he’ll get involved,” Bonilla said.

One Republican strategist put it more bluntly: Given his approval ratings, some Republicans seeking office might not want Bush around.

“Other than quietly raising money for Republican campaigns, I don’t think there’s a candidate or strategist who wants the president in the same zip code as the campaign,” the strategist said.

J. Taylor Rushing contributed to this article.