Tuesday, November 19, 2002
Passing the midterms - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER – Prior to the American midterm elections two weeks ago, I noticed some e-mails floating around the Internet from prominent left-wingers doing their bit to encourage democracy. Naturally, they were filled with pleas to head out and vote, but appended to them were the vitriol, expected from folks like Barbra Streisand, Michael Moore and Arianna Huffington. Rants, of course, bashing the President and his Republican Party.
It's America and naturally their brand of democracy allows for some loyal criticism from the opposition. Streisand and Moore did not disappoint. I kept copies of their web postings, in the hope that their adamant vows that Bush and the GOP would go down, would turn out wrong. Prior to the election, it was possible that the status quo would be preserved. Well, the results even surprised people within the Republican Party themselves! Streisand, who had gotten into a feud with Internet muckraker Matt Drudge, over some careless ranting that Babs had done, saw her list of "endorsed" candidates sincerely unelected. The kicker for the warbler was the race in Minnesota. Her hero, Paul Wellstone, perishes in an untimely plane crash. Former vice-president Walter Mondale steps in, but is unsuccessful against Republican Norm Coleman. I bet, Streisand must have felt a tad apoplectic following the win of President Bush's handpicked candidate!
Michael Moore, the prominent socialist film-maker, who've I got a lot of time for really, wrote an impassioned e-mail the weekend before the vote claiming that Bush would be embarrassed by his losses, that historians would call the election, "Payback Tuesday." This, because he thought the time of the left was at hand. Moore vowed that Americans would vote down Republicans because of the Enron and Worldcom debacles, because of Bush's failure to catch Osama bin Laden, because of the administration's heavy handed approach against Iraq, and because he hadn't won the election (that he "stole" it) in 2000. To date, I haven't heard anything new from Moore, whose regular e-mails have not appeared since that one on the weekend before the midterm election. At least Streisand, the aggrandising politico that she is, has slimed her way to lower levels with a recent update to her website «www.barbrastresiand.com ». She blames the losses on the Democrats themselves, and their "blind" support of the President. Perhaps Streisand should heed the advice of Senator John McCain on a recent edition of Saturday Night Live: stay the hell out of politics.
The trifecta scored by President Bush is noteworthy amongst other things. First, no president has actually achieved gains in the midterms in years. Plus, the election has rendered the Democratic Party in utter disarray. The fact of the matter is President Bush is a fiercely popular guy, who underestimated by all, managed to deliver a finely executed strategic win, cultivating that so said popularity.
For Republicans, it was indeed sweet justice. First, Jeb Bush trumped the pundits and pollsters who were cautiously saying his governorship in Florida was at risk to the Democrats' Bill McBride. Democratic Committee Chairman, Terry McAullfe's pathetic vow that they'd "knock off one Bush at a time" turned out not at all prophetic. Not even the schmoozing of the popular Al Gore and Bill Clinton could help the steamrolling Republicans. The cherry on the top of the successes in Florida, has got to be the win of one Katherine Harris. Harris, of course the former state secretary in the forefront of the 2000 debacles in the Sunshine State and ardent Bush (Dubya and Jeb) supporter, has won a seat in the House of Representatives. My advice for the Democrats is that they might as well concede the 2004 presidential race now.
Americans rose to occasion and gave President Bush the mandate he didn't get in 2000. Americans realised that the Republicans, not the lily-livered Democrats can govern the country. Americans realised that President Bush deserves the office and that he needs all the help he can get.
George W. Bush is often made fun of as a boob and a nincompoop. I've done it myself. Really, he is a man who loves his country, and behind the gosh-darnit of it all, he's a brilliant politician. Personally, one ought to admire his stance in not diminishing or diluting his policies once he became President. Even though he didn't win the public's support (Gore got more votes), he pressed on with his agenda suffering the consequences. Chief among those was the defection of Vermont Senator Jim Jeffords. Jeffords, lost the Republicans' one-seat majority in the Senate, when he decided that Bush was not pragmatic enough, thus decided to sit as an independent that voted with the Democrats. Jeffords must feel like a total ass right now.
Bush is a skilful guy who really knows what he's doing. Pundits wrote him off as incapable of getting his brother re-elected in Florida. They wrote off his stumping for Coleman in Minnesota late in the campaign. Pundits thought that Clinton campaigning for Carl McCall, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in New York, would somehow embarrass the Republican incumbent, George Pataki. Alas, McCall fell, as did Erskine Bowles in North Carolina, losing the Senate race there to Elizabeth Dole. Even Al Gore's expressions against the President's agenda, late in the campaign, failed to resonate, even being ridiculed by some as too little, forget too late. The result of the 2002 midterm elections is clear. George W. Bush, along with his conduct following September 11, 2001, has finally won the right to govern.
Democrats need to do serious reevaluating at this point. They are seriously divided. They need to unite or else 2004 will yield the same disastrous result as this year. The Democrats, with the election of Nancy Pellosi as the House Minority leader, need to build a base around which a credible candidate can emerge to face Bush in 2004. If it's Al Gore, as Bush supporters like me hope for, as Bush will sweep for sure, then he's got to emerge challenging the President and the administration forcefully. (We're seeing his appearances now, but really they are too little too late anyways. That's another column.) House and Senate Democrats need to act as the loyal opposition that Americans expect. Had they, I am sure the American voter would have been more forgiving. Alas, what you saw were hawkish Democrats siding with Bush, whilst those truly opposed to the President, ran and hid from any meaningful political debate.
George W. Bush should never be underestimated following November 5th's elections. He and his aide Karl Rove did splendid campaigning that was strategic and finely astute. Bush's adamant stance in not toning down the ‘compassionate conservatism' rhetoric, was totally right. He knows what he's doing and now, it's hoped everyone knows he's totally getting it done as President of the United States of America.
Then again, 2004 is still a while away. In politics a week is an eternity, but immediately the Democrats need to put up or shut up real soon.
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An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .