I frequently hear the complaint that the Bush administration doesn't do an adequate job of explaining its policies.
I think there is strategy behind this behavior.
The strategy is: there are only a few times to bring out the big guns of political values...don't waste the big guns.
The strategy is based on three observations. (1) The core Republican-neocon perspective is the same as the most deeply held American values. (2) These values are like a patriotic flag and should only be waved on rare occasions. (3) It is rare that the bulk of the American people are paying attention to the political world. Most Americans dislike politics and don't follow it.
The best example of
these observations came in the summer of 2004 during the Republican
National Convention. The Democratic Convention came first in the Summer of 2004 and after
the convention there was NO CHANGE in the public perception of the
Democrats. The Republicans saved the most powerful speech for the
keynote address by Zell
Miller who expressed the core Republican values of America in a
brilliant, powerful and dramatic speech. The rest of the convention
emphasized each of the points that Miller made.
After the Republican convention the popular support of the Republican Party shot up 15 percentage points. The American public was listening, the message was unmediated by the press and the message was warmly received.
I believe the Republicans can do this again in 2008; and are planning to use it again.