Trip Abroad Could Aid Bush in Opinion Polls

TRIP ABROAD COULD AID BUSH IN OPINION POLLS -- With his popularity rating the lowest it has been during his presidency, George W. Bush did what other presidents have historically done: He took a trip abroad. And even though he received a less than warm reception in Great Britain this week, that could actually work in his favor in the U.S., says Temple political scientist Michael Hooper, who studies public opinion. "By going overseas, he becomes a representative of the nation, not a partisan leader. The mass public demonstrations against him in England are not going to hurt. And they could help. When he's overseas, Americans will view him as 'our' leader." Hooper sees major similarities between Iraq and Vietnam and the ways Bush and President Lyndon B. Johnson handled them. In both situations, the presidents took heat for being "deceptive" in their justifications for going to war, which, Hooper says, "led to deep divisions in public opinion." Bush is being accused, as Johnson was, of "sugarcoating" what's happening in the war. And Bush is now looking for an exit from Iraq before the upcoming election, says Hooper. "I haven't heard the term Iraqification used," says Hooper. "But what's going on there looks very similar to Vietnamization. Bush's political situation looks much like Johnson's did."