Posted on 12/03/2004 7:34:52 PM PST by RWR8189
A DEMOCRATIC SENATOR who attended a special screening of the movie Fahrenheit 9/11 was asked what he thought was the most revealing part about President Bush. The senator pondered a moment, then said it was the episode where Bush, in close-up, continues to talk to a grade-school class in Sarasota, Florida, for six or seven minutes after he's learned that planes had flown into the World Trade Center. What did it reveal? The senator couldn't say.
My impression, as Bush begins his second term in the White House, is that many in the political community, including the press, still haven't figured him out. One reason is the Bush presidency has emerged quite differently from what was expected. So here are five things about the president that help explain why he does what he does. They aren't the only five aspects of his presidency, but they're five important ones.
* ACTIVIST. The label is usually applied to liberal politicians, rarely conservatives. In Bush's case, it means he has a lengthy agenda and is impatient about enacting it. And it's an agenda--Social Security reform, altering the balance on the Supreme Court, tax reform, reversing cultural trends, a crusade for democracy around the globe--for change. Bush didn't get his activist streak from his father. George H.W. Bush was a caretaker president, dealing with items as they arrived in his in-basket. He lost his bid for reelection in 1992 partly because he didn't have much on his mind for a second term. Bush has a lot, and it's not trivial. One of his most stinging criticisms is to label a proposal "smallball"--in other words, not big or bold enough for serious presidential attention.
* OUTSIDER. Bush is an alien inside the Beltway. His election was the equivalent of getting a green card to work in Washington. He's not part of the social whirl. Nor has he made many close friends on Capitol Hill or around town. What separates him from the Washington crowd? More than anything else, it's religion. Bush is the first president who's a product of the modern evangelical movement, which means his Christian faith is personal, intense, and all-encompassing. It's not a part-time, Sunday-only thing. Leave Washington and you frequently encounter people who say of the president, "He's one of us." You don't hear that in Washington. A Texas friend recently sent the president a copy of Natan Sharansky's book, The Case for Democracy. Bush read most of it and asked Sharansky to meet with him at the White House. Bush praised Sharansky for his years as a dissident in the Soviet Union. To which Sharansky replied, "Now you are the chief dissident of the world."
* PRESS-BASHER. Bush has not made peace with the press, far from it. He views most reporters as political opponents eager to pepper him with gotcha questions. In Colombia last month, he appeared before reporters with President Alvaro Uribe. Bush didn't like the first question about a scuffle two days earlier involving the Secret Service. "This is a question?" he said, and gave a curt answer. Uribe said, "Do you want to get in one more [question]?" Bush said, "That's plenty. No. Thank you," ending the press conference prematurely.
Bush believes, correctly, that the Washington press corps favored John Kerry in the election. "Ninety percent for Kerry" is what White House aides say. Coverage of Bush reflected this. The Center for Media and Public Affairs found that coverage of Kerry was the most favorable for any presidential candidate since it began examining campaigns in 1988, while Bush's was mostly negative. Reporters complain they get little information from the White House. Chances are they'll get even less in the second term. Bush's calculation is that spending more time with the press would be time poorly spent.
* SURPRISER. Bush likes to defy the conventional wisdom. He often does it without even trying. I recently asked a leading supporter of Israel if he had known Bush would become the most pro-Israel president ever. He hadn't. Bush was expected to govern as a moderate conservative, but on most issues he's become hard core. He was expected to relax after November 2. Instead, he's plotting for next year. Presidents, indeed most politicians, are disinclined to give aides credit for their success. But Bush surprised Washington on the day after his reelection by calling Karl Rove "the architect" of his victory. The conventional wisdom is that Bush endorsed a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage to help win reelection but won't actually push it. The surprise of his second term may be that he pushes it aggressively.
* VISIONARY. Really. True, the word just doesn't seem to go with the Bush persona, or at least with the popular notion of Bush, the swaggering Texan. But in speech after speech, Bush has laid out a vision of democratizing the Middle East, then the world. In Halifax, Nova Scotia, last week, he pretended Canada shares his "great commitment . . . to enhance our own security by promoting freedom and hope and democracy in the broader Middle East." Most of Europe and Bush's own State Department disagree with this effort. But Bush is adamant. "It is cultural condescension to claim that some peoples or some cultures or some religions are destined to despotism and unsuited for self-government," he said in Halifax. With little fanfare, Bush also changed America's national security strategy from containment to preemption.
So where does all this leave us in understanding Bush? The first step is to abandon the original preconception of President Bush. He's different. The second step is to accept that he's attempting big things. And the third, as a result, is to get ready for a second presidential term like few we've seen.
Fred Barnes is executive editor of The Weekly Standard.
Sen Harry Reid is mean, full of hate - IMHO.
I think Harry Reid was happier than John Thune on election day. He is a very calculating person and did Daschle's dirty work for a long time. HE was the one that would step up to the microphone in the Senate and very softly tell the Republicans, UP YOURS. Of course, since he is so soft spoken and small in stature, he doesn't look like a devious bully, but that is what he is.
I am not sorry to see Daschle gone, but I feel sorry for Frist and the other Senators that will try to get ANYTHING passed this year. I think we can count on many filibusters of judicial nominees. The Reps. need a pit bull to counter him and the only one I can see right now might be Norm Coleman.
Sadly, I don't believe that President Bush will be able to counter the abortion industry by himself. His leadership has managed to stem some of that abhorrent malpractice, but there is so very much more to do. I feel it as sorely as you and many others, but other than attempting to nominate strict Constitiutional judges to the courts, whose effect will be many years before being felt, if then, what more can be done in this political climate? I would welcome a private discussion with you about it in more detail, but this is such a heart rending subject for me that I don't want to put more in print - I already have tears in my eyes...
"Harry Reid is a hardnut.
His soft voice belies the wrath within him."
Reminds me of when Daschle used his soft voice - drove me nuts as I knew what was within (though he did scream occasionally, too) - -Pelosi is another one.
Is it too much to hope that Reid is up for re-election in 2 years?
"I will make a prediction that only history can bear out. This president will make a mark on this planet far deeper than any other president of the last 200 years."
I agree with you. However, I think it will depend upon how the 'academics' writing the history books try to spin it - -hopefully, by then, they'll be conservative, so they'll write the true story and not the 'revised' edition that the libs are putting in the books today.
Short answer, a lot of stupids in rural parishes as we as in Orleans. Brown roots runs right in election years, even goes to Polk,Barksdale and Calleder,then blows them off for the next five.Look at our esteemed Governor, Squatting Edwin.Think about her campaign against Bobby Jindal.
The Rangers will get there before the Nationals. Of that, you may be certain.
But wouldn't you love to see the President sitting in the stands in a baseball cap with a big "W" on it?
I'm a dyed in the wool Cardinals fan, but I may buy a Washington Nationals hat and wear it to tick off the liberals.
OK we will do just that. Thanks for the heads up on the book..
Yeah, but few retirements are expected. Retirements are the key to this, because incumbent Democratic senators are almost impossible to beat.
I agree that Fred has a good point here. But I don't count on him to tell me what's likely to happen over the next year or two. I think he tends to be too optimistic and to underestimate the enormous obstacles in the way of the Republican party in Washington, let alone the fundamental cowardice which permeates our political system.
You *GO* President Bush! I hope you make them squirm as much as they have made *me* squirm during the past 4 years as they have maligned, bashed, criticized and even fabricated lies about you and your role as president. They disgust me just as much as the minions of hollyweird disgust me.
Great article by Fred Barnes - thank you for posting it.
(((FP))) - thank you for the ping.
Your comments are right on, IMHO.
Good thinking!
Reid just got reelected by a huge margin in Nov.
That would be the exception that proves the rule, wouldn't it?
Can you say Tom Dashel (sp.?)?
Thanks. I couldn't remember and was in a hurry and didn't look it up. OK, so much for wishful thinking.
Pres Bush needs to use the bullypulpit more this term (like Pres Regan did)- as it was shown in his campaign speeches, he can get the people charged.
Daschle
John Thune proved anything is possible, even a defeat of an incumbent Democrat senator.
As I said, "almost" impossible. We beat about one Democratic incumbent a year. That's not good enough.
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