Analysis: 'Shock and awe' for Democrats (MUST READ!!)

UPI Chief White House Correspondent ^ | 5/2/2003 | Nicholas M. Horrock

[Jewels1091]

WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- For the nine Democratic presidential candidates, watching President George W. Bush fly onto the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in his jet pilot suit, and hugging all those certified war heroes, must have been like the Iraqi command when the bombs of "shock and awe" began to redraw the map of downtown Baghdad.

There before them is what they face next year: a 56-year-old man, tanned and fit, able to take a hard carrier hook landing without using the barf bag; in the words of one of the pilots, a "stud;" declaring victory on the decks of a sunlit aircraft carrier at sea with thousands of young American servicemen roaring their applause.

Ronald Reagan's Hollywood team could not have done better. This is a war president! He has defeated the Taliban, removed Saddam Hussein, bluffed back the Russians, Chinese and French and now warns the world that if you challenge the United States, one of these giant carriers with more warplanes than most countries can dream of will roll up next to your border and change your regime.

This is a sitting president who is going to challenge everything the tentative, politically correct 1990s stood for. He is running on a return of the America to the 1950s, the glory days: big cars, cheap gas, a powerful military whose generals are proconsuls from Baghdad to Kabul, and family values.

Even though he sat out Vietnam flying in the Texas Air National Guard, he has marshaled the giant constituency of the U.S. military, tapping the patriotism that burned after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and catering to the conservative values of the regular forces.

His campaign, like a fast-moving armored column in the desert, will be a hard target to hit. To attack his war is to attack the young men and women who fought the war and won it. The cheers on the deck of the Abe Lincoln were genuine and the Democrats who watched it know that.

Even if no weapons of mass destruction are found in Iraq or real connections to al-Qaida established, the hated Saddam regime is gone and there are enough welcoming and happy people in Iraq to certify this little war. Bush Thursday was careful not to link the war to the first Gulf War, the one so many people think his father didn't finish. He linked it to the war on terror. This allows him to roll forward like that armored column, glossing over the future of Iraq, glossing over all the tangled issues of whether it can be governed or even reconstructed.

By declaring Iraq but a battle in the war on terror that is still under way, Bush neutralizes a Democratic complaint that his wars are no guarantor of safety from terrorist attack. The war, he says endlessly, could be endless, and an endless war faces no accounting. It is always a work in progress.

Presidents always have the advantage of an incumbent, but nothing matches the U.S. armed forces for drama and color. The nine Democrats conduct their first debate Saturday evening at 9 p.m. EDT in South Carolina. They were unable to persuade any national channel to carry the debate live, and ABC finally agreed to tape it. The first national TV broadcast of it will air at 1:30 a.m.

Bush was able to produce the sound stage of a giant carrier and its 5,000 young Americans as a backdrop for what perhaps was his first campaign speech. Millions of people worldwide watched him land on the carrier deck.

It is a theme Americans will see again and again in the next months. This is the president of the war on terror. The Republican Party will hold its convention in New York in early September, literally a stone's throw from Ground Zero. The heroes of that day, the police and firemen, will be there. The heroes of the war in Afghanistan will be there and the heroes of the Battle of Iraq.

Though politics in a republic is an uncertain practice, right now, George W. Bush must look very formidable.

[capt. norm]

With Clinton's over-stuffed ego, I would imagine that the carrier landing had to be the worst blow to him so far.

[Nakota]

Well Clinton would say he had great poll numbers too. You heard about them every day on TV, as opposed to now when they are barely mentioned. Except, I think many wondered if Clinton's poll numbers were legit, or were they suspect like so much else about him.

[Wolverine]

What a fantastic contrast!

 

[Carolinamom]

Just a few of the many differences: Bush is a fighter pilot; Clinton plays the saxophone. Bush respects the military; Clinton loathes the military. Bush married a LADY; Clinton married a power-hungry harridan. Bush tells the truth; Clinton lies. Bush inspires; Clinton perspires. Bush is an authenic MAN; Clinton is a plastic human.

[MeekOneGOP]

Sure, Grampa ! Here ya go! Let me know which others you would like to preserve, okay?

http://home.attbi.com/~mrgrumman/BushVictoryUSSLincoln05012003.JPG

height=410 width=323

[Tall_Texan]

Visualize 61 GOP Senators.

Yes, but how many of them will be Republicans?

[MeekOneGOP]

hehe !

[Two-Bits]

Grandpa Dave,
Is that a Yellow strip down his back???? If so, it sure fits him...

[JustAmy]

Wonderful !!!! A must read!

Thanks for the ping. Lady.

[ohioWfan]

A BRAVE Presidential Keep-the-Rats-in-SHOCK BUMP!

[Rummyfan]

"The war, he says endlessly, could be endless, and an endless war faces no accounting. It is always a work in progress."

Simply not true - the President has said many times and as recently as Thursday night's speech, that the war will end. We do not howver know when that will be.

Agree that the Dems are in Big trouble. Interesting to see their little get-together tonight.

[Rummyfan]

No I don't think we'll ever see W hiring some feminist nut-job (Naomi Wolf?) at $15K a month to tell him how to dress and act!

[JustAmy]

Hi GrandpaDave

I don't know whether anyone saved this picture to a server but I uploaded it to my ISP account; if anyone wants to use it, please feel to link to it.

Thanks.
Amy

[JustAmy]

Sorry Meek .....
I saved and posted prior to reading the rest of the thread. Guess they now have two links. LOL JustAmy

[snooker]

" ... we still need 3% growth this year and next year, or the Dems+ media will try a rerun of 1992."

I seriosly doubt this. The sheep know a down economy beats getting blowed up everytime.

As long as the terror threat is there, the economy sits in the back seat, with all the other socialist clap trap.

Only if the terror threat is demonstrably decreased will the economy be a factor.

The war on terror is not over even thougn Iraq has been squished. Not at all like 1991.

snooker

[JSloth]

It's scary to think how close this great nation came to having algore instead of George W Bush as our President! Let's make sure we never come that close to disaster again...VOTE!

[lawgirl]

Bingo, ergo my tagline. The fact that X42 is in misery adds to the sweetness.

[MeekOneGOP]

Hey, not a problem. :O)

It's a great pic . . .

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ROFL!!!!