Matthew Dowd is Breaking up with President Bush

And he's telling us all about it.

Mr. Bush is just not the man Dowd thought he was when Dowd first signed on with him, he indicated today in a New York Times interview.

Dowd, an Austinite and longtime key Texas Democratic strategist, switched parties and joined the Bush campaign team in 1999 because he believed then-Governor Bush would make a sincere attempt to bridge the partisan divide. His disillusionment during the Clinton administration left him hungry for a more hopeful era, and Bush's straightforward manner and unique agenda quickly sparked Dowd's interest.

Dowd rose in the political ranks and was soon part of Bush's inner circle of advisers. He was impressed by Bush's education platform and his refreshing stance on immigration - both of which seemed to indicate that Bush was a different type of Republican. Dowd described his hopeful, enthusiastic feeling in those days as akin to "falling in love."

And like any good political adviser caught up in the game of getting his guy elected, his personal admiration of Bush allowed him to ignore the creeping doubts Dowd had about him. For a while.

Photo from KLRU

Then, the lustre began to fade, and Dowd began to wonder if perhaps his friends were right. Maybe Bush wasn't the Uniter Dowd thought he was.

These doubts didn't prevent Dowd from being on the front lines of the Kerry "flip-flop" strategy during the 2004 election campaign. He remarked, “When you fall in love like that,” he said, “and then you notice some things that don’t exactly go the way you thought, what do you do? Like in a relationship, you say ‘No no, no, it’ll be different.’ ”

But the 2004 election brought no new changes, and Dowd began to wonder about an exit strategy. In his view, Bush was becoming less and less willing to listen to other views, and more willing to shrink his inner circle until it only included people who wouldn't argue with him. Dowd finally decided that the circle was too small for him, and he broke up with the President.

Dowd now says that, though he was impressed by how Bush handled the 9/11 attack, he was shocked when Donald Rumsfeld wasn't fired following the Abu Ghraib horrors, appalled when the President refused to meet with war protester Cindy Sheehan, and disappointed with the administration's handling of the aftermath of Katrina. And he's not afraid to speak publicly about it.

What's next for the heartbroken Dowd?

Well, he's not letting the experience sour him on politics altogether. He still wants to help nudge America toward consensus. “I think we should design campaigns that appeal not to 51 percent of the people,” he says, “but bring the country together as a whole.”

But don't look for Dowd to hook up with anyone right away. Despite his admiration for Barack Obama and his message, Dowd's not looking for a rebound relationship. Instead, he will be attempting to find himself. Says he, “I wouldn’t be surprised if I wasn’t walking around in Africa or South America doing something that was like mission work.”

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Shelley Livaudais in News on April 4, 2007 9:04 AM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Mark L. Jackson

Oh, this is too funny. GWB has done NOTHING BUT cave into the left (that's the essence of bi-partisanship). How can Dowd be upset about that? Or is it that his buddies on the left (aka Dems) don't care about bi-partisanship? Of course they don't. Getting elected is all they care about. Wake up people.

tee

This kind of news comes in cycles. Usually once every ten years or so, when the former-minority party begins to regain power from the once-dominant political party. The political operatives - who are, by their very nature, neutral and only interested in the futherance of their own careers as "campaign winners" - jump ship when the sense the turning of the tide.

Indeed. Here it is again, the political operative who smells regime shift and immediately obeys his natural instinct for survival. Dowd is a smart man, and he is doing what political operatives do - they sell their services to the most popular and, thus, highest paying bidder.

It was once the Republicans. Now, the high bidder will soon be the Democrats.

If anything speaks for the probable end of GOP dominance in America, I'd say this story is it. Perhaps the worst misunderstanding you can make about such a story is to believe that Dowd has "changed."

austin real estate observation

Now that the bush train has wrecked it seems he thinks we should be standing here with open arms. The lines about thinking Bush was a uniter are pretty weak. I can understand some average joe thinking Bush was simply a nice guy and being fooled. But people that were paying attention realized Bush was a pretty far right winger in 2000 when he was assembling his team for the first run. The fact that a seasoned political operative was surprised by Bush's policy is pretty far fetched. Its even more far fetched that it took him 7 or 8 years to figure it out.

erin

flipflopper and waffler.

he needs to meet arlin spector.

alison

this guy is, well, kind of a dick. during the launch for his book 'applebee's america,' all he could do was make fun of the texas democratic party and talk about how good things were going for the repubs. that was, of course, before dems took control of congress. talk about a flip flopper.

modam

GOP Insider (and author of the innauguration bios of both Bush and Cheney, and former co-author with Lynn Cheney) has also started taking shots. He is a bit of a loose cannon, but he has some serious issues with W. and CHeney amd he lets loose in this WaPo article.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/01/AR2007040101211.html

Colin

Let's see. As the Democratic party began to fall apart in Texas, Dowd saw where things were headed and jumped ship to Bush's Republican party.

Good move -- I'll guess he made a lot of money helping our friend George get to the White House twice.

Now that Bush has run the GOP into the crapper, Down runs to the NYT to cry, cry, cry about how Bush has let him down. All Dowd wanted was someone to unite the country!

Spare me. This guy is an opportunist and he's using the NYT to help him find some new business. I enjoy it as much as anyone else when a former Bush loyalist lets George have it, but to take anything Dowd says at face value is a mistake.

damnation's delights

A few more:

“You can't be friends with a squirrel! A squirrel is just a rat with a cuter outfit.”

“If two people have only one thought between them, something is very wrong.”

“I got to thinking about relationships and partial lobotomies. Two seemingly different ideas that might just be perfect together - like chocolate and peanut butter.”

damnation's delights

Some sage advice from Carrie:

"As we drive along this road called life, occasionally a gal will find herself a little lost. And when that happens, I guess she has to let go of the coulda, shoulda, woulda, buckle up and just keep going."

"Do we need distance to get close?"

"So many roads. So many detours. So many choices. So many mistakes."

"Can you make a mistake and miss your fate?"

"When a relationship dies do we ever really give up the ghost or are we forever haunted by the spirits of relationships past?"

"When it comes to life and love, why do we believe our worst reviews?"

"In a relationship, when does the art of compromise become compromising?"

"What ultimately defines a relationship is another relationship."

And my personal favorite:

"Some people are settling down, some people are settling and some people refuse to settle for anything less than butterflies."