Bolten to the rescue?

From Time's Mike Allen: "So the White House is now on a survival footing, and Bolten is essentially planning a six-month campaign that will not only prevent a Republican hemorrhage in the fall but might even produce accomplishments for Bush in his lame-duck years."

The plan: Deploy guns and badges (referring to a tough policy on illegal immigration); make Wall Street happy (referring to tax cuts on stock dividends and capital gains); brag more (referring to "happy talk" about the prescription-drug plan, the economy, and Iraq); reclaim security credibility (referring to "putting pressure on Iran"); and court the press (referring to using "journalists to make [the White House's] case to the public")

Translation: Pander to the base's racism and xenophobia; make the rich richer; spin and spin with a smile; put America on a dangerous collision course with an emerging nuclear power; and suck up to the press in hopes it'll do what it used to do and report your spin as truth.

Is this new? No, it's the same old same old same old. The new twist is Bolten and the shuffling of a few deck chairs. The spin may work, the style may impress, but the substance is still pure Bush.

All the more reason why Democrats need to do well in November, set the agenda for the last two years of the Bush presidency, and go into '08 with the momentum they need to take back the White House.

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See also this editorial in today's L.A. Times: "If President Bush hopes the 'shake-up' of his administration initiated last week will re-energize his listless presidency, he's bound to be disappointed. A far more audacious makeover is needed — one that sends Vice President Dick Cheney into early retirement."

Bush? Audacious makeover? Not gonna happen.