August 21, 2004
SO MUCH DONE. SO MUCH YET TO DO:
Bush Promises to Offer Detailed Plans at Convention (ADAM NAGOURNEY, 8/22/04, NY Times)
[M]r. Bush's aides said that after five months in which they have focused almost exclusively on attacking Mr. Kerry, the president will use his speech to offer what they asserted would be an expansive plans for a second term, in an effort to underline what they argued was Mr. Kerry's failure to talk about the future at his own convention."This speech has to lay out a forward-looking, positive prospective agenda," said Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's senior political adviser. "It has to show - and to defend in a way the American people want to hear - his policies on the war on terror."
Has any president since maybe FDR had such an ambitious second term platform? Among the President's proposals are: Social Security privatization to complete the Ownership Society; comprehensive Energy Policy; fundamental tax reform; immigration reform; democratization of the Middle East; and space exploration. With the kinds of majorities he may carry in they could all be doable, except immigration. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 21, 2004 4:31 PM
Why is immigration hard? A loosening of legal immigration with a crackdown on illegal would get strong Republican support across the nativist-growthist divide. Once the Democrats with the anti-immigrant labor unions are weakened, it can be done.
Posted by: pj at August 21, 2004 5:37 PMHere it is, the commercial you've all been waiting for....http://www.johnkerry.com/video/082104_old_tricks.html
It's a whiner!
Posted by: patriot1955 at August 21, 2004 6:00 PMpj:
No, it can't. Amnesty for the folks already here is a killer by itself.
Posted by: oj at August 21, 2004 6:01 PMpatriot:
You're aware, are you not, that the same old tricks won him the presidency four years ago? And Kerry is no McCain. Heck, he's not even Ann ?Richards.
Posted by: oj at August 21, 2004 6:04 PMOne of the amazing things about this whole business is that Bush keeps coming at the opposition the same old way, to adapt what the Duke of Wellington once said, and beats the opposition the same old way every time. And the opposition never, ever, ever learns. What the Democrats really need is a series of remedial courses in basic politics.
Posted by: Joe at August 21, 2004 9:27 PMJoe:
What the Democrats really need is to decide what they want to be. If they are to be the party of Mr. patriot1955, then they will accept permanent small minority status (~30% or less). If they are going to be the tap-dance party (like now), then they will level off at around 45%. Even Clinton peaked at 49% (with all the margin tipping in his favor).
Remember, even as the Republicans were sputtering in their "Clinton-hatred", they held their Congressional majority and built their lead at the state level. No such luck for the party of Michael Moore.
Posted by: jim hamlen at August 22, 2004 12:28 AM