The elephant in the convention

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The Republicans are planning to throw quite a party in Minnesota in a couple of months. They're just not quite sure what to do with the President of the United States.

Convention planners, the White House and the McCain campaign are wrestling with how to choreograph a proper send-off for Mr. Bush — sure, his poll numbers are in the tank, but he is still the party leader and president of the United States — while hustling him out the door in time for Mr. McCain to look like his own man.

"It's a very delicate situation," said Brian Jones, a former communications director for Mr. McCain's campaign who also was a top communications strategist during Mr. Bush's 2004 run for re-election. "Even though the president is the president, this is going to be John McCain's convention, and you want it to be about John McCain and what his presidency would be."

A convention is a pivot point, and the theatrics and imagery are often more important than the words. For Mr. McCain, of Arizona, the convention imagery will be especially important, because he must show that he wants to take the nation in a new direction, away from Mr. Bush, yet he cannot escape Mr. Bush's dominance of Republican Party politics for the last eight years.

Funny, the Republicans weren't worried about all of this in 1988, when they made sure to have Reagan "give oomph to the Bush candidacy," including a choreographed embrace between the then-president and his Republican successor.

This year, the president will speak on the first night of the convention, but a Republican close to McCain and Bush said any kind of joint appearance was "highly unlikely."

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/