Still stupid?

• Author: Malanowski, Jamie

IT'S STILL THE ECONOMY, STUPID George W. Bush, the GOP's CEO by Paul Begala Simon & Schuster, $12.95

PAUL BEGALA, WHO WAS FORMERLY Bill Clinton's campaign consultant and who now plays a likable, liberal bandy rooster on CNN's Crossfire, has a new book out called It Still the Economy, Stupid. This is an unfortunate title, in part because it summons all the vim and rhythm and hope-against-hope cleverness of a one-hit wonder band's poorly received sequel. (Envision the remainder bin at Sam Goody's: It's the Economy, Stupid; It's Still the Economy, Stupid; Stupider Than Ever!: The Best of the Raging Consultants.)

The other reason it's an unfortunate title is, of course, that the recent election was about many things--President Bush's popularity, the war on terrorism, a revulsion for the Democrats that periodically seems to grip the electorate, or perhaps just a subliminal realization that repudiating Republican candidates meant repudiating Bush, which most voters weren't willing to do--but the results suggest that it certainly was not about the economy.

But like so many great one-hit wonders--"Louie, Louie," "Wipe Out," and so on--the energetically argued It Still The Economy, Stupid will still have fans, will still be a mainstay on the oldies stations, Will still get fannies shaking at wedding receptions and bar mitzvahs, and will inevitably have a comeback. And that is likely to happen sooner than you'd think. The war is Topic A right now, and not much of an alphabet follows. But the midterm elections, by giving Bush virtually everything he needs to pass his agenda, likely means the war won't remain Topic A forever--or even for long. As Bush I demonstrated, even winning a war in a romp doesn't spare a president from a tanking economy. And if winning a war doesn't give a president a free pass, imagine how getting into a protracted stalemate in Iraq will play. At that point, we'll see how hummable Begala's song will be.

It should be pretty catchy. I can't explain why Democrats weren't able to tie the corporate scandals to the president's policies. But pointing out that the president wants to give massive tax cuts to outrageously overpaid CEOs who preside over companies whose books are rigged in order to dodge taxes and inflate stock prices that inevitably hit stockholders' retirement accounts and college funds seems as irresistible to me as "Na Na, Hey, Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye" Perhaps it's the Democrats' own corruption and culpability...