Negative rhetoric seen beyond campaign trail

Scorching rhetoric and negative campaigning aren't confined to the long presidential contest. They're spilling over into other segments of public life.

Retired corporate chieftains are grousing about their successors. Ex-Federal Reserve chairmen are second-guessing steps taken by the current Fed chief. And President Bush is being nipped at by two former presidents.

It's an upending of tradition. Former presidents didn't publicly challenge the policies of sitting ones. Former Fed chairmen were seldom seen or heard. And retired CEOs were usually just that, retired, and spotted on the golf course, not on CNBC.

But in recent days:

- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's unorthodox moves to keep the housing crisis from spreading drew pointed comments about the crisis from predecessors Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan.

- General Electric Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt found himself suddenly on the defensive after he was hammered on an earnings miss. Among his sharpest critics: former GE boss Jack Welch, who said Immelt had a "credibility problem."

- And if President Bush didn't face enough challenges with two wars and a slumping economy, he's being buffeted almost daily by Bill Clinton on the political front and Jimmy Carter on Middle East policy.

"It's partly this environment where we can't let things slide," said Wayne Fields, director of the American Cultural Studies program at Washington University in St. Louis.

Nearly all of those in public life have learned the lessons of the campaign trail, "that we've got to say what's wrong early and get it corrected. We've got to declare ourselves," said Fields. Plus, he added, "There's big bucks to be made. These former leaders are going to protect their positions of expertise so they can keep selling books and keep getting speaking engagements."

Greenspan, Clinton, Carter and Welch all have books to sell. ...

•	Negative rhetoric seen beyond campaign trail Associated Press, Saturday, April 26, 2008 Byline: Tom Raum, Associated Press

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