Cheerleading Bush plays great confidence game

The president is a cheerleader, and the United States is his team. He's been running pep rallies since prep school, when he was the cheerleading captain at Phillips Andover Academy. And, heck -- as he might say -- you can sure see why.

He delivers his pithy, upbeat message in optimistic bursts that defy skepticism.

Feeling down? Worried that American soldiers are losing their lives every day in Iraq, in an occupation without a foreseeable close? Concerned about an economy that's twitching like a fly with a torn wing? Troubled by a burgeoning federal deficit, with war costs of $4 billion a month?

The president was here to reassure the populace, to bolster support from voters in the big industrial state of Michigan. And if his popularity numbers are wavering, Bush's air of invincibility is not.

To the Livonia throng of 250 or so, he promised checks in the mail and already enacted tax breaks -- to small businesses buying new equipment, to stockholders reaping dividends, to parents who qualify for tax credits.

The speech, the formula, is a simple and direct equation: It's all about confidence. Money equals confidence.

The checks will soon be in the mail.