I thought his speech today (at least what I caught of it) was quite good, and he was very effective hitting the Democrats on taxes. When you are a Republican and all else fails, go to taxes. But, going forward, He could really use an effective spokesman on the economy.
The problem he has at the moment is that no high official in his administration has the credibility necessary to go out and change people’s minds. The only one is Condi. So it would be great to have a fresh, undiminished figure as treasury secretary. Not that John Snow has done anything wrong, but everyone knows that he’s not a major player and is meant to be only a cheerleader, so he tends to be discounted.
On the model of the way Josh Bolten is returning the job of White House chief of staff to its more traditional, powerful role, perhaps it’s time to have a new treasury secretary, one who also returns that position to its traditional, powerful role. It would be a way to give Bush a new voice and look on the economy, which at the moment represents the GOP’s best opportunity to take some of the edge off the electorate’s discontent.