DO AS THE IDIOT DID

When Fighting Bush, Heavyweight Contenders Need to Use a Light Touch (Ronald Brownstein, July 14, 2003, LA Times)

The demand from Democratic die-hards for a hard line against Bush seems to have at least three distinct roots. One is tactical. The principal lesson most Democrats took from the 2002 midterm election was that the party lost ground because it failed to challenge Bush aggressively enough, especially on his tax cuts and foreign policy. Dean
encapsulates that conviction when he declares, always to loud applause, that "the way to beat this president is not to try to be like him."

Some of the anger toward Bush also reflects the lingering belief among many Democrats that he won the White House illegitimately in 2000. But far more of the passion has
been generated by what Bush has done since he arrived in Washington. [...]

Like all candidates challenging an incumbent, the Democrats face legitimately conflicting pressures. To convince the country to change course, they must make a forceful case against Bush's direction. But they might also remember that even most Americans who disagree with a president, any president, usually don't consider him malevolent or stupid, just wrong or ineffective.

Dozens of leading Republicans forgot that truth during the Clinton era and indulged in public contempt that hurt them more than their target. One who remembered the lesson was Bush. In 2000, he firmly made his case against the record of Clinton and Al Gore on education, entitlement programs and foreign policy.

And yet, faced with a base that loathed Clinton and Gore at least as much as the Democrats today loathe him, Bush demonstrated a light touch on the Clinton administration's ethical problems, saying only that he would restore honor and integrity to the White House. No one misunderstood his meaning. Yet he never seemed consumed by anger or zealotry.

The Democrats might learn from the man they are trying to unseat that, when dealing with a sitting president, usually less is more.

So Howard Dean is wrong: the way to beat this president is to be just like him.


NB: Apropos the post below on the disgruntled Right: "In a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll taken late last month, Bush's approval rating was 94% among Republicans, but just 29% among Democrats. That's among the largest gaps ever measured." Posted by Orrin Judd at July 17, 2003 7:12 PM