 |
|
May 20, 2013
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Feb. 7, 2005
/ 28 Shevat, 5765
A transformative president
By
Michael Barone
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
George W. Bush is a transformative president. Bill Clinton skillfully adapted to circumstances. George W. Bush — clumsily in the view of his critics, but with confidence self-evident to those who watched his State of the Union with clear eyes — sets out to transform America and the world. And is succeeding.
Consider Social Security, the centerpiece of Bush's domestic policy this year. The conventional wisdom is that change is impossible. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says he has 45 votes lined up to filibuster any change. But Bush is working to change public opinion. The first polls taken after his speech show that he is succeeding.
Polls taken in Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Arkansas and Florida — states Bush traveled to after the speech, all with Democratic senators — will probably show the same thing. Bush's argument that the system is unsustainable and needs change is growing stronger with the public.
Democratic leaders' "just say no" response grows weaker. Its weakness has already been demonstrated by the defeat of former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota. It is held up to ridicule by The Washington Post editorial page. Charles Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, where the first work on the issue will be done, is determined to get personal retirement accounts. The ranking Democrat on the committee, Max Baucus, is from Montana, a Bush state, and has worked with Grassley before. Favorable action is not assured. But it is possible.
It is possible also because Bush has already transformed the American electorate. On Election Day, John Kerry won 16 percent more votes than Al Gore did in 2000. George W. Bush won 23 percent more votes than he had in 2000. This is comparable to Franklin Roosevelt's 22 percent gain in popular votes between 1932 and 1936. FDR created a New Deal majority that hadn't existed before. Bush may have done something similar for his party.
Bush carried 31 states that elect 62 of the 100 senators. He carried approximately 250 congressional districts, to about 185 for Kerry (the final counts aren't in). Bill Clinton was re-elected with 49 percent of the vote in times of apparent peace and apparent prosperity — the most favorable posture in which to run. George W. Bush was re-elected with 51 percent of the vote in times not of apparent peace and apparent prosperity. Clinton's 49 percent in retrospect looks like a ceiling for his party. Bush's 51 percent may be more in the nature of a floor.
The one conspicuous failure of the Bush campaign was its failure to win the young vote. Bush's personal retirement accounts are popular with young voters, and he now has the megaphone to speak to them.
If Bush is transforming the American electorate, he is also transforming the world. For nearly two years, Old Media have been broadcasting pictures of violence and chaos in Iraq, ignoring the many changes for the better there. Last week, they could ignore those changes no longer.
On Jan. 30, 8 million Iraqis voted and held up their purple-ink-stained fingers and danced in the streets. On Feb. 2, as Bush delivered his State of the Union, Republican congressmen (and perhaps some Democrats, though I didn't see any) held up purple-ink-stained fingers, as Bush echoed his Second Inaugural and specified how he would advance liberty in the world.
America and the world watched as, in the gallery, Safia Taleb al-Suhali, whose father was murdered by Saddam Hussein's thugs, embraced Janet Norwood, the mother of a Marine sergeant who died in Fallujah. The world could see: A grateful Iraq was thanking a bereaved America for its sacrifices in the cause of freedom. Sacrifices not made in vain.
The Democrats' demands for an "exit strategy" show that they just don't get it. Bush has persevered through many months, of vicious attacks and Old Media pessimism. And he is succeeding.
On Social Security, Old Media can't use pictures to discredit Bush's arguments (but watch for pictures of old ladies eating cat food) and the Democrats' "just say no" argument will threaten to do them more damage. Old Media's credibility has been reduced by the hamhandedness of its attempts to defeat Bush — Dan Rather's forged documents and the New York Times' "missing weapons."
Bush's credibility has been enhanced by events that Old Media cannot conceal. Success on Social Security is not assured. But this president's ability to transform America and the world should not be misunderestimated.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
BARONE'S LATEST
Hard America, Soft America: Competition vs. Coddling and the Battle for the Nation's Future
America is divided into two camps, according to U.S. News and World Reports writer and Fox commentator Michael Barone. No, not Red and Blue, though one suspects Barone may taint the two groups in the hues of the 2000 presidential election. Barone's divided America is one part Hard, one part Soft. Hard America is steeled by the competition and accountability of the free market, while Soft America is the product of public school and government largesse. Inspired by the notion that America produces incompetent 18 year olds and remarkably competent 30 year olds, Barone embarks on a breezy 162-page commentary that will spark mostly huzzahs from the right and jeers from the left. Sales help fund JWR.
|
JWR contributor Michael Barone is a columnist at U.S. News & World Report. Comment by clicking here.
Michael Barone Archives
© 2005, Us News & World Report
|
