Bush Takes Out Loan for More Political Capital

by Fran Doomkin
Special to the Washington Post
Tuesday, September 20, 2005; 10:44 pm

WASHINGTON, DC -- Following his narrow electoral victory last November, President Bush famously declared “I earned political capital in the campaign, and now I intend to spend it.”

Now, some 10 months later, that capital is gone. A recent examination of the White House political ledgers found the Administration in debt up to its eyeballs, with nervous Congressional Republicans demanding repayment before the 2006 midterm elections.

That’s not how it was just a few short months ago. Flush with an electoral “mandate,” the Bush White House repealed the inheritance tax and created new bankruptcy rules that made it harder for average citizens to escape debt, while permitting the Republican-controlled Congress to rack up some of the largest deficits in the nation’s history.

The White House’s profligate political spending hit its peak during the president’s 60-city tour promoting his now moribund Social Security Plan. Insiders report lavish hotel rooms overflowing with Beluga caviar and Cristal champagne, and all-night parties with Metallica and members of the Family Research Council.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration’s political trust fund was rapidly being eroded by the ongoing war in Iraq and a scandal involving top aide Karl Rove. Then, the storm hit.

“Katrina broke the bank,” says a senior administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Recent polls show the president’s approval rating hovering between that of Adolph Hitler and actor Pauly Shore.

Recent efforts to restore the president’s image by revisiting the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast have failed. Administration officials concede they’ve run out of poor black people who are willing to be photographed talking to the president.

So Mr. Bush recently took the highly unusual step of applying for an emergency loan with the World Political Bank. As collateral, he put up the presidential hopes of his brother Jeb, twin daughters Jenna and Barbara, and three years’ worth of future earnings from the Carlisle Group.

“We didn’t get much, but every little bit helps,” noted the official. “With two Supreme Court vacancies and some indictments likely to come out of the Rove-Plame investigation, he’s going to need everything he can get.”