Bush Aims To Forge A GOP Legacy

Washington Post ^ | 1/30/5 | Thomas B. Edsall and John F. Harris

[SmithL]

When President Bush stands before Congress on Wednesday night to deliver his State of the Union address, it is a safe bet that he will not announce that one of his goals is the long-term enfeeblement of the Democratic Party.

But a recurring theme of many items on Bush's second-term domestic agenda is that if enacted, they would weaken political and financial pillars that have propped up Democrats for years, political strategists from both parties say.

Legislation putting caps on civil damage awards, for instance, would choke income to trial lawyers, among the most generous contributors to the Democratic Party.

GOP strategists, likewise, hope that the proposed changes to Social Security can transform a program that has long been identified with the Democrats, creating a generation of new investors who see their interests allied with the Republicans.

Less visible policies also have sharp political overtones. The administration's transformation of civil service rules at federal agencies, for instance, would limit the power and membership of public employee unions -- an important Democratic financial artery.

If the Bush agenda is enacted, "there will be a continued growth in the percentage of Americans who consider themselves Republican, both in terms of self-identified party ID and in terms of their [economic] interests," said Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform and an operative who speaks regularly with White House senior adviser Karl Rove.

Many Democrats and independent analysts see a methodical strategy at work. They believe the White House has expressly tailored its domestic agenda to maximize hazards for Democrats and tilt the political playing field in the GOP's favor long after this president is out of the White House.

[LowCountryJoe]

From the article - The danger for Bush is that there may be less support than he imagines for major changes of the sort represented by proposals for Social Security and plans to limit civil damages, some experts say.

"These are not incremental policies," Edwards noted. "They have a greater risk of failure."

Jacobson agreed, especially on the question of Social Security. "I'm not so sure that a program designed to increase the exposure of ordinary Americans to market forces in ever-broader aspects of life is politically sustainable in the long run -- wait till the next recession."

This says too damned much about many Americans today. This is just one of a handful of deep-rooted reasons why the federal government is grotesquely obese...many Americans cannot stomach market outcomes and, for that matter, have lost their competitive drive.

[drt1]

One glaring omission in the article about the Bush Legacy is the Supreme Court. IMO this has the potential to be THE LEGACY, a legacy that will be immune from the likes of Ted Kennedy and the other Super Nutcase Libs and one which will exert influence and carry forward the Republican agenda for many years to come.

[A. Pole]

many Americans cannot stomach market outcomes and, for that matter, have lost their competitive drive.

Maybe they should learn from the Argentinians?

[A. Pole]

More likely, Bush's strategy is to do what he thinks is good for the nation, not the party.

And he thinks that for the nation the glory and greatness is the best.

As Machiavelli demonstrated, a state which wants to become an empire needs to import many people. These republics which want to remain free and stable for a long time should emulate Sparta or Venice, but they have to forego the hegemony and imperial glory.

See The Beginning of Machiavelli's Rome's

[Ed_in_NJ]

The leftist Washington Pest lacks the character to state that when W does something good for the country, it is bad for the self-serving rats.

[LowCountryJoe]

Typical post...inequality, unfairness, class warfare, blah blah blah. True "conservative" material from the market-hating crowd..

[stylin19a]

to late...we have scavengers in our town. They send out 'scouts" in the early evening. Then the pickup trucks come in the dead of night\early morning to pick up whatever they've marked as useful.

It's illegal, but nobody seems to mind.

[Willie Green]

many Americans cannot stomach market outcomes and, for that matter, have lost their competitive drive.

Anti-American weasels, like LowCountryJoe, make these taunting statements fully aware that domestic business and industries are shackled and encumbered by the federal regulatory bureaucracy and hostile litigatory environment. The cowardly scumbags don't believe in fair trade or a level playing field and always resort to blaming Americans first.

Thanks, Joe, for showing us your true, anti-American sentiments.

[Final Authority]

I was involved in a high tech start-up ten years ago. The CEO had a meeting and said he wanted everybody to be investors, he wanted us to be owners and he wanted everybody to realize the benefits of capitalism. He dreamed up a stock price of $9.00 a share and then offered everybody options that would be available immediately. Many bought thousands at $2 to $5 per share. When year end bonus time came around he gave everybody shares valued at $9.00 even though they were never available on the market. What this meant was that everybody's tax assessment went up and had to pay taxes on the margin of the stated value of the shares.

We were definitely the investor class and the CEO spent the money on junkets all over the world drumming up business and entertaining various women.

When the CEO needed more money he sought venture capital. The VEs looked at the balance sheets and offered cash and about $.10 per share for the outstanding stock. They owned the company and then sold it off again in a year for several $million. What did the "investor class" get out of it? An empty bank account and not so much as a thank you, but we did get the opportunity to look for another job. I think this is why the President wants payroll taxes to be moved to the stock market. I think GWB has been told that since people lost money in the '90s and right after 9-11 they have not flooded it with new capital to allow the entrenched rich to steal it without being noticed. The market needs money and GWB is their man.

[RS]

"You've been spending too much time on FR. The Buchanan/Tancredo crowd is still well less than 1%...."

You forget how quickly Perot shot out from nowhere to give us the Clintons ...TWICE...

[Final Authority]

VEs s/b VCs. so sorry.

[Final Authority]

You are exactly right about Perot and what may happen in four years, a real nationalist conservative will or possibly put the Dems in the WH and as a majority in one of the houses. The problem I see is how I and others who believe in the US Constitution and the rule of law deals with being called a "racist" every time we speak out on this matter. Our friend here, bayourod, wrote that certain congressmen are playing to the racists among us. I guess we have just been referred to as racist because we believe in the nation known as United States of America and the Constitution which is the foundation for all of the laws, liberties, and freedoms which we enjoy. Without these, without borders and a common language, and without the rule of law, we have nothing.

[Final Authority]

Another anecdote about the folks who shout racism. Mike Farrell of MASH fame was on Lou Dobbs the other night. Lou was getting the best of him about the criminal alien problem and borders, especially the southern one with Mexico. Before the segment was over as Mike knows TV and broadcasting well, he managed to imply that Lou's opinion on this matter and everybody that agrees with Lou was motivated by racism. He shouted racism several times and Lou shot back that he was only a true believer in the Constitution and the rule of law. In the end Lou was disgusted with his guest and rightly so.

[fallujah-nuker]

"Some Freeper isolationist was barking a figure of 80% of America want illegals removed from America and yet there is no figurehead for this political powerhouse issue."

Do you recall when the moderator in the last debate mentioned that he received far more letters from Americans on illegal immigration than any other subject?

[fallujah-nuker]

"You forget how quickly Perot shot out from nowhere to give us the Clintons ...TWICE..."

You seem to think that George Bush Sr. was entitled to the votes that Perot received. If there was no Perot on the ballot most of the people who voted for him would simply have not voted and Clinton would still have won.

[fallujah-nuker]

LowCountryJoe wrote "many Americans cannot stomach market outcomes and, for that matter, have lost their competitive drive."

Amen, starting at the very top. Newt Gingrich, Robert Rubin and Bill Clinton could not stomach what the market outcome meant for firms like Goldman-Sachs who had invested heavily in Mexico and saw their investment ruined by the collapse of the peso. So they arranged the bailout of Mexico to bailout the bankers of Manhattan. The taxpayer gets to take the risk, but Goldman-Sachs gets all the profits.

If Republicans like Newt Gingrich had actually put their rhetoric about allowing markets to work in this instance Goldman-Sachs would have been ruined and Jim Corzine would have been unable to buy his Senate seat in New Jersey. Instead they choose to apply their theories on some steelworker in West Virginia. All animals are equal but some are more equal than others I guess.

[fallujah-nuker]

Hmmm, Dubya is allied with Mike Farrell, Ed Asner and Diane Keaton on the issue of illegal immigration. Interesting...

[Richard Kimball]

But a recurring theme of many items on Bush's second-term domestic agenda is that if enacted, they would weaken political and financial pillars that have propped up Democrats for years, political strategists from both parties say.

Translation: It would solve the problems the Rats have been milking since Lyndon Johnson was in office.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

Reagan used our capacity to spend to defeat global communism. Could W. be using our capacity to spend to defeat domestic liberalism? The 'Rats have been a cancer on this society for a century and a half. It's time to terminate them.

[F16Fighter]

"Too bad many GOP voters are on the verge of breaking away over the immigration and spending issues."

Usually it's Democrat who'd advocate spending taxpayer dollars like a drunken sailor, or ignoring crucial sovereignty issues at the Mexican border.

This Republican President shall NOT overcome that part of his "legacy."