As the Presidential campaign clarifies down to McCain vs. Clinton or Obama, there are echoes of the past in the appeal of each to today's voters.
With the Kennedys' endorsement, Barack Obama is JFK's clear heir, and his success with the young in the primaries so far confirms the comparison.
Hillary Clinton, like the Wizard of Oz, is trying to persuade voters not to pay attention to that man behind the screen (barely) but is at the same time riding on the residue of good feeling from his prosperous, warless 1990s.
John McCain is morphing into another, albeit testier, version of Reagan--a plain-spoken, optimistic patriot who will try to charm Americans into not, as RR put it, holding his opponents' comparative youth and inexperience against them.
Beyond gender, race and ideology, this generational undercurrent of the young for Obama, the middle-aged for Clinton and the elderly for McCain will be part of the contest for the hearts and minds of Americans of all ages as they try to mature beyond the Bush era.
It should be a vintage election year.
Showing posts with label Reagan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reagan. Show all posts
Friday, February 01, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
The Clinton-Kennedy Chasm
On the heels of Caroline Kennedy's paean to Barack Obama as the heir to her father's political ideals come reports that the family patriarch, Sen. Ted Kennedy, will endorse Obama, too.
For weeks now, JFK's alter ego Ted Sorensen has been campaigning for the Illinois Senator, underscoring the continental divide in American politics between the dynasties.
The famous picture of a starry-eyed young Bill Clinton in 1963 shaking Kennedy's hand is now an ironic reminder of the political and temperamental differences between the two.
Both came to office after enormously popular Republican presidents, Eisenhower and Reagan, but JFK overcame his political caution, learned from mistakes and earned respect for an idealism that, unlike Clinton's, strengthened during his tenure and earned respect across the ideological landscape.
Kennedy was a skeptic by nature, but he was not capable of the cynicism that Bill Clinton has been showing in the attempt to get his wife to the White House.
The Kennedy dynasty is over, but its heirs may play a significant role in ensuring that the Clintons' never materializes.
For weeks now, JFK's alter ego Ted Sorensen has been campaigning for the Illinois Senator, underscoring the continental divide in American politics between the dynasties.
The famous picture of a starry-eyed young Bill Clinton in 1963 shaking Kennedy's hand is now an ironic reminder of the political and temperamental differences between the two.
Both came to office after enormously popular Republican presidents, Eisenhower and Reagan, but JFK overcame his political caution, learned from mistakes and earned respect for an idealism that, unlike Clinton's, strengthened during his tenure and earned respect across the ideological landscape.
Kennedy was a skeptic by nature, but he was not capable of the cynicism that Bill Clinton has been showing in the attempt to get his wife to the White House.
The Kennedy dynasty is over, but its heirs may play a significant role in ensuring that the Clintons' never materializes.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Casting Call for GOP "Christmas Carol"
Looking for redemption in Bush's final year, the White House Art Players might plan a new production of the Dickens classic starring the President as a kinder, gentler Scrooge.
A Nixon impersonator would be perfect for Jacob Marley, dragging the chains of Watergate, to open W's eyes with visits from the ghost of Christmas past (a Reagan lookalike as Fezziwig) Christmas present (Mitch McConnell or any endangered Senate colleague) and Mike Huckabee as Christmas future in the Republican graveyard.
On Christmas morning, a new Bush would awaken with SCHIP insurance for Tiny Tim, a veto-proof new signing pen to show Nancy Pelosi and a symbolic fruitcake to send to his new best friend, Ahmadinejad.
They could ask Dick Cheney to understudy the lead, if he promises not to shoot any of the other actors.
A Nixon impersonator would be perfect for Jacob Marley, dragging the chains of Watergate, to open W's eyes with visits from the ghost of Christmas past (a Reagan lookalike as Fezziwig) Christmas present (Mitch McConnell or any endangered Senate colleague) and Mike Huckabee as Christmas future in the Republican graveyard.
On Christmas morning, a new Bush would awaken with SCHIP insurance for Tiny Tim, a veto-proof new signing pen to show Nancy Pelosi and a symbolic fruitcake to send to his new best friend, Ahmadinejad.
They could ask Dick Cheney to understudy the lead, if he promises not to shoot any of the other actors.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Republican President? Liar Luntz Has a Plan
Talk about die-hards: The GOP’s piss-on–the-public pollster/pundit Frank Lunz unveils his strategy to keep the White House in ’08. It gets a tad twisty, of course, so follow closely:
Play the “fed up with Washington” card: “Democrats blew into Washington in 2006 as a breath of fresh air in response to Republican scandal, Republican budget mismanagement and a Republican war. But in recent weeks, that freshness has turned stale.”
Sell the voters hope: Luntz says focus groups have been saying, "Don't tell us what George W. Bush did wrong. Tell us what you will do right. Don't talk about the past. Tell us about the future."
Be authentic, even if you have to fake it: Don’t try to “recapture a mood that has long since gone by...the Republican candidate should seek to lead like Reagan, not be Reagan.”
Win Ohio: Give them “a culturally conservative message fused with government accountability and economic opportunity specifically tailored to voters in the industrial heartland.”
Luntz, whose specialty is inverting the truth (“global warming” to “climate change”), is bamboozling himself now into forgetting that he has been discredited to the point that PBS last month, after hiring him as an analyst for a Democratic debate, had to pull back under fire.
A long-time liar for Rudy Giuliani, Luntz has no official place in this campaign. But he no doubt is in a closet somewhere, churning out truthful lies to make America’s Mayor look Reaganesque but not like Reagan, devising a culturally conservative message for his cross-dressing candidate and floating pipe-dream plans for how the Republicans can hold on to the White House with even bigger lies than Bush and Cheney could invent.
Play the “fed up with Washington” card: “Democrats blew into Washington in 2006 as a breath of fresh air in response to Republican scandal, Republican budget mismanagement and a Republican war. But in recent weeks, that freshness has turned stale.”
Sell the voters hope: Luntz says focus groups have been saying, "Don't tell us what George W. Bush did wrong. Tell us what you will do right. Don't talk about the past. Tell us about the future."
Be authentic, even if you have to fake it: Don’t try to “recapture a mood that has long since gone by...the Republican candidate should seek to lead like Reagan, not be Reagan.”
Win Ohio: Give them “a culturally conservative message fused with government accountability and economic opportunity specifically tailored to voters in the industrial heartland.”
Luntz, whose specialty is inverting the truth (“global warming” to “climate change”), is bamboozling himself now into forgetting that he has been discredited to the point that PBS last month, after hiring him as an analyst for a Democratic debate, had to pull back under fire.
A long-time liar for Rudy Giuliani, Luntz has no official place in this campaign. But he no doubt is in a closet somewhere, churning out truthful lies to make America’s Mayor look Reaganesque but not like Reagan, devising a culturally conservative message for his cross-dressing candidate and floating pipe-dream plans for how the Republicans can hold on to the White House with even bigger lies than Bush and Cheney could invent.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Summer of Our Discontent
New polls show Americans unhappy with just about everything. “A very sour mood” is the Gallup conclusion.
Only 24 percent say they are satisfied “with the way things are going,” a figure that hasn’t been this low since 1992. At that time, Bill Clinton’s advisers saw a reason (“It’s the economy, stupid”) and used it to get to the White House.
According to Gallup, Americans now worry about the economy, their jobs, high gasoline prices and, since politicians started yapping about it, immigration. Yet, by most measures, the economy is doing well enough, and so is the stock market.
It’s easy to see how the war in Iraq is causing so much frustration, with voters giving the President low marks and the Congress they elected to fix things even worse approval ratings, an all-time low of 14 percent.
What’s harder to measure is the free-floating anxiety behind the numbers. How much is due to the Republican drumbeat of “If we don’t fight them there, they’ll follow us here?” How much to Democratic impotence and in-fighting over how to get us out of Iraq? How much to the noisy distrust and disgust over everything in our public life, fueled by caustic cable-news anchors and bilious bloggers competing to be heard?
Our national mood disorder isn’t helped by the endless Presidential campaign, which is getting more negative as candidates feel the pressure mounting. But somewhere in all this, there may be an opportunity for one of them to do what Ronald Reagan did in the wake of Vietnam and rampant inflation with a “Morning in America” vision.
If Gallup is right, the country could be ready for it.
Only 24 percent say they are satisfied “with the way things are going,” a figure that hasn’t been this low since 1992. At that time, Bill Clinton’s advisers saw a reason (“It’s the economy, stupid”) and used it to get to the White House.
According to Gallup, Americans now worry about the economy, their jobs, high gasoline prices and, since politicians started yapping about it, immigration. Yet, by most measures, the economy is doing well enough, and so is the stock market.
It’s easy to see how the war in Iraq is causing so much frustration, with voters giving the President low marks and the Congress they elected to fix things even worse approval ratings, an all-time low of 14 percent.
What’s harder to measure is the free-floating anxiety behind the numbers. How much is due to the Republican drumbeat of “If we don’t fight them there, they’ll follow us here?” How much to Democratic impotence and in-fighting over how to get us out of Iraq? How much to the noisy distrust and disgust over everything in our public life, fueled by caustic cable-news anchors and bilious bloggers competing to be heard?
Our national mood disorder isn’t helped by the endless Presidential campaign, which is getting more negative as candidates feel the pressure mounting. But somewhere in all this, there may be an opportunity for one of them to do what Ronald Reagan did in the wake of Vietnam and rampant inflation with a “Morning in America” vision.
If Gallup is right, the country could be ready for it.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Dr. Reagan and Mr. Cheney
After rehearsing with Jay Leno last night, Fred Thompson is ready for his Fourth of July closeup, Mr. DeMille.
As an actor Thompson has always played himself, a folksy politician in a rumpled suit. Now he is taking on a reverse Jekyll-Hyde role in the ’08 picture to persuade Republican fire-breathers in the primaries before he gives his Reagan impersonation for the White House Oscar in November.
The supporting cast and props are in place starting with the Bush I reliables: the aging ingénue Mary Matalin, economic sage Lawrence Lindsey and Robert Novak, the devoted old media manservant, among the familiar faces for 20th century flashbacks.
But as the cast grows, the important players are coming from the Bush-Cheney troupe, the latest three certified as “hawkish” by the Weekly Standard: Mark Esper, an aerospace executive who was Bill Frist’s foreign policy guru; Joel Shin, who coordinated advisers for Bush’s 2000 campaign; and Dick Cheney’s older daughter, Liz, a Middle East expert with credentials that suggest an apple falling not far from the tree.
Thompson’s role as a Scooter Libby advocate and his mumblings about taking on Iran round out the picture of an Administration that would not offer a sharp break with the world view of the one we have now.
But none of that will be the focus of Thompson’s campaign. Instead there will be the image of (believe it or not) a Washington outsider who never wanted to be President but feels duty-bound to save us from the mess he clearly is getting ready to perpetuate.
Is this a great country or what?
As an actor Thompson has always played himself, a folksy politician in a rumpled suit. Now he is taking on a reverse Jekyll-Hyde role in the ’08 picture to persuade Republican fire-breathers in the primaries before he gives his Reagan impersonation for the White House Oscar in November.
The supporting cast and props are in place starting with the Bush I reliables: the aging ingénue Mary Matalin, economic sage Lawrence Lindsey and Robert Novak, the devoted old media manservant, among the familiar faces for 20th century flashbacks.
But as the cast grows, the important players are coming from the Bush-Cheney troupe, the latest three certified as “hawkish” by the Weekly Standard: Mark Esper, an aerospace executive who was Bill Frist’s foreign policy guru; Joel Shin, who coordinated advisers for Bush’s 2000 campaign; and Dick Cheney’s older daughter, Liz, a Middle East expert with credentials that suggest an apple falling not far from the tree.
Thompson’s role as a Scooter Libby advocate and his mumblings about taking on Iran round out the picture of an Administration that would not offer a sharp break with the world view of the one we have now.
But none of that will be the focus of Thompson’s campaign. Instead there will be the image of (believe it or not) a Washington outsider who never wanted to be President but feels duty-bound to save us from the mess he clearly is getting ready to perpetuate.
Is this a great country or what?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)