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Bush seizing spotlight briefly to support McCain

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-31 09:45

Hillary Rodham Clinton, vanquished by Obama in a long and intense primary season, dominated attention through much of this past week in Denver. Both she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had earned the right to be on stage, but then had to get off it.

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Bush plans to spend the vast majority of his speech on McCain. White House counselor Ed Gillespie said Bush will speak about what only a few people know firsthand: the requirements of the job, and how McCain fills them all. He will praise McCain's "unique judgment, perspective, and experience" to handle the challenges facing a nation at war, still under terrorist threat and with a weak economy.

Though Bush will express deep gratitude to those in the hall for all they have done for him over the past eight years, he is not expected to spend much time reflecting on his own time in office. He will not target Obama at all.

As Perino put it: "Looking forward, rather than looking back."

"It will not serve as a farewell to the American people, and it certainly will not attack Barack Obama," she said.

Some of the looking back is coming from Vice President Dick Cheney in his speech earlier Monday. First lady Laura Bush is to address convention delegates, too, offering personal reflections on her husband and on the compassionate side of the McCain family.

Though Bush's speech comes on the late fringe of prime time, bumped back from the original slot of 10 pm, Perino noted he has the status slot of last in the evening. The "buildup of the night" will lead right to him, she said.

William McGurn, the president's former chief speechwriter, said Bush's success will come in being heartfelt and gracious about McCain. So do not expect a long, dramatic entrance like Bill Clinton had in 2000, when it was supposed to be Al Gore's show.

"He knows it's not his convention - he's had two of them - and he'll behave accordingly," said McGurn, who has had no role in this speech.

But while Bush tries to make the Republican event not about him, Democrats will try to do the opposite. As Hillary Clinton put it this past week, "It makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities (of Minneapolis-St. Paul). Because these days, they're awfully hard to tell apart."

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