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Did it have to come to this? With a presidency marked by any number of flagrant shortcomings — a lackluster economy at home, tax cuts for the rich, and a misadventure in Iraq botched practically from the outset, to name a few — this election seemed eminently winnable for the Democrats. Then again, perhaps this would have been the case had John F. Kerry’s campaign not waited, more or less, until the presidential debates to show any real signs of vigor. By then, it was too late. Sure, maybe it was a revelation for some that George W. Bush came across as a petulant figure unable to think on his feet and lacking in presidential stature. But it’s not as if the true colors of the Bush White House — profligate spending that troubles even dyed-in-the-wool Republicans; an Orwellian knack for lending upbeat names to dubious initiatives (Leave No Child Behind, for instance); and the abject failure to anticipate the need to win the peace in Iraq — weren’t already abundantly clear. The only real hope for Kerry was to beat the Republicans at their own game, hammering the ample failures of the administration, blowing a gaping hole in the absurd claim of the president’s supporters that Bush manifests skilled and steadfast leadership. Instead, even though it was all too easy to anticipate the coming attacks on his character, the Democrat’s campaign remained largely passive as the GOP minions transformed Kerry’s credentials as a war hero, thoughtful war critic, prosecutor, and US senator into a miasma of milquetoast indecision. Some of Bush’s support can be attributed to the exigencies of the post-9/11 age and the emotional anxiety that some people feel, even if it doesn’t necessarily make sense, about changing leaders. Curt Schilling’s tax bracket may explain why he was willing to shill for the president. It’s far harder to fathom, though, the Republicans’ success in winning the staunch support of the very people — extending from the working class through the middle class — who are most adversely affected by GOP policies at home and abroad. In his excellent book, What’s the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (Henry Holt and Company, 2004), Thomas Frank calls this the politics of self-delusion. Linking themselves with the humble cultural values of the South and Midwest, Republicans like Bush simultaneously advance a regressive economic agenda, heavy on privatization and deregulation, by improbably aligning NASCAR dads with Wall Street. In a perverse way, it’s fitting that George W. Bush is poised to become the first Republican president since Ronald Reagan to win consecutive terms. Like Bush, Reagan lacked intellectual curiosity, crusaded for the rich, and had a penchant for foreign misadventures. Republicans didn’t enjoy hegemony in Congress at the time, though, and then-House Speaker Thomas P. "Tip" O’Neill helped to check some of the Reagan White House’s most extravagant excesses. The overall stakes, in hindsight, seem to have been significantly lower in the halcyon days of the ’80s. Although some observers predict that Bush will move toward the center while trying to build his presidential legacy, this seems unlikely. After campaigning four years ago as a moderate, the president veered to the right. Emboldened by what his supporters are describing as a mandate, Bush threatens to make Reagan look almost reasonable by comparison. |
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Issue Date: November 5 - 11, 2004 Back to the Features table of contents |
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