Conservative Advocate: A bad first round for Bush
The Democrats have had the media all to themselves for a long time now. (How long has it been — six months? Six years? Or does it just seem like six years?) Month after month, we have been treated to innumerable “debates” among the Democratic presidential wannabes, televised nationwide and free of charge, in which all of them have bashed President Bush relentlessly. Eventually, after various spectacular stumbles on the part of his rivals, Sen. John Kerry has emerged as the all-conquering hero and likely presidential nominee. So now the media are breathlessly reporting that, according to the latest polls, Bush’s ratings are down, and, in one or two surveys, Kerry is actually beating him!
Nobody, of course, takes these polls very seriously (except, the Democrats hope, the voters). There are still more than eight months to go before Election Day, and Bush is sitting atop 100 million dollars or so that will be thrown into TV ads and other aspects of the campaign at the appropriate moment. The Republican response to the recent Democratic deluge, in other words, hasn’t even begun yet, and it’s a safe bet that Kerry, whose victories over his relatively lackluster opponents have all been scored in exclusively Democratic primaries, will look considerably more bedraggled after several months of working-over at the hands of Karl Rove & Co.
Still, there’s no denying that, just at the moment, Bush is going through a bad patch. His State of the Union speech was passable but not inspiring; his appearance on “Meet the Press” was widely judged unimpressive. The economy is looking better all the time, but the Democrats are naturally lamenting the thus-far only modest improvement in jobs and the continuing problems in Iraq. Considering how their prospects looked a year or even 10 months ago, they have reason to feel that things have improved considerably.
Meanwhile, the rest of us can contemplate the various casualties of the Democratic presidential primaries. Foremost among them, surely, was former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. Up until the night after the Iowa caucuses (when he had his famous screaming fit), he was almost always photographed in his shirtsleeves, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Since then, he has invariably worn a dark jacket that looks a size too big, giving him an appropriately shrunken appearance.
Tied for second among the losers, surely, are the opportunists who endorsed Dean when he looked like a sure winner: former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, and — above all — Al Gore. Poor Gore just can’t win for losing. Not long after plighting his troth to Dean, he raced off to New York and delivered an impassioned warning against global warming — on the coldest day New York City had experienced in 30 years.
Of the entire bunch, however, two deserve credit for sticking by their principles even when it hurt: Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, who refused to apologize for his support of the Iraq invasion at the height of Dean’s antiwar hysteria, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, who not only matched Gephardt on Iraq, but staunchly defended the ideals of Democratic centrism pretty much across the board.
Gen. Wesley Clark at first seemed like a formidable contender — and would have been, if he hadn’t, out of sheer political ignorance coupled with a staggering opportunism, laid egg after egg. His bold support of abortion right up to the hour before birth must have turned the stomachs of many a “pro-choice” voter.
Only North Carolina Sen. John Edwards remains in the ring with Kerry, and he deserves to. He cannot win, but he has run a clean, competent campaign, and his boyish charm and Southern credentials make him a strong contender for the vice presidential spot on Kerry’s ticket, if he can avoid annoying Kerry too much in the months between now and the Boston convention.
Round one of the campaign has gone to the Democrats — as it was bound to, given all the publicity of the primaries. Round two and later rounds, however, may be something else again.
William Rusher is a Distinguished Fellow of the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy.