Posted on 01/03/2002 3:01:52 AM PST by JohnHuang2
CAL THOMAS Bush ready for the domestic war
President Bush returns to Washington this week with progress in the war against terrorism but knowing that the conflict is not over. He will face a situation nearly identical to the one his father confronted: a Democratic majority in the Senate lead by a man with a nice smile whose sole objective was to beat Bush in the next election.The president's father faced Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell. George W. Bush faces Mitchell's political reincarnation in Tom Daschle, D-S.D. The elder Bush mistakenly believed he could get along with Mitchell and that his ``kinder-gentler'' approach would bring Mitchell around. Mitchell tied up every meaningful piece of legislation Bush tried to enact, then blamed Bush for the lack of results. Surely this President Bush can see an instant replay coming.
Daschle has thrown down a gauntlet, saying that he will allow votes only when a ``super majority'' of 60 votes is in favor. He claims historical precedent, extending back to the Founding Fathers for his position. In fact, he has few historical legs to stand on, and Bush should call him on this. He should start by quoting FDR, the Democratic patron saint, who said in 1937: ``Majority rule must be preserved as the safeguard of both liberty and civilization. Under it, property can be secure; under it, abuses can end; under it, order can be maintained -- and all of this for the simple, cogent reason that to the average of our citizenship can be brought a life of greater opportunity, of greater security, of greater happiness.''
Roosevelt said majority rule preserved ``our fundamental institutions against the ceaseless attack of those who have no faith in democracy.''
In 1788, James Madison opposed a super majority. ``In all cases where justice or the general good might require new laws to be passed or active measures to be pursued, the fundamental principle of free government would be reversed,'' he wrote.
``It would be no longer the majority that would rule; the power would be transferred to the minority . . . a practice which leads more directly to public convulsions, and the ruin of popular governments, than any other which has yet been displayed among us.''
Thomas Jefferson was even more succinct, saying in 1809: ``Where the law of the majority ceases to be acknowledged, there government ends; the law of the strongest takes its place, and life and property are his who can take it.''
President Bush's adversaries are not Democrats, per se. Some moderate Democrats have joined with him on some issues. His opponent is liberalism. He should resurrect the political ghost of the late Lee Atwater, who labeled Michael Dukakis, the elder Bush's Democratic opponent in 1988, a ``card-carrying member of the ACLU'' and a threat to all we hold dear.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist offered some help last week. He said that the Senate's delay in confirming judges to the federal bench is hurting the war against terrorism.
The president's schmoozing of liberal Democrats such as Daschle and House Minority leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri was good public relations, and it won some points for Bush while half the country was still disputing the 2000 election results. But now is the time to oppose adversaries at home with the same resolve that the president shows his enemies abroad.
Bush has said that he must spend some of his political capital and that his high approval ratings will not last. The big media, in tandem with liberal Democrats, soon will begin their assault to lower those numbers. He should take the initiative and force his opponents to react to what he's doing, not react to their criticism of him. It worked when Bush won his pre-war tax cut measure. It can work again.
FIGHT BACK
A domestic policy ``war room'' should be created (though let's call it something else to avoid comparisons with the previous administration). Just as presidential advisor Karen Hughes has lead an information campaign to counter propaganda coming from Osama bin Laden, so should the administration immediately respond to every statement and strategy of liberal Democrats, defining them before they define Bush.
Whether it's a history lesson or a charge that liberals are hurting the war against terrorism, the president must show the same mettle he has demonstrated against terrorism to promote the policies he believes are best for the country.
©2002 Tribune Media Services
South Dakota voters may quickly see the light. TT is a liability.
When he begins to treat the socialists like the Taliban, he'll start to win...
Getting old is hell on earth. Thanks for reminding me.
Bingo, Miss Marple.
Remind you of anyone? (and how come you're not at your desk yet?)
He (Dash-Eel) has sure worked hard to ruin that economy for partisan gain. I think Americans know this and if President Bush calls a spade a spade, he will say this out loud and expose Dash-Eel for the hateful partisan he really is.
The nerve of that senator impeding a decision America needs so he can blame someone else for the wreckage. It's pure treachery!
I have seen the initial foray by Cheney, Bush and others to counter the Dascholes and it appears by poll numbers to be initially effective.
Should the RATS continue to step on their GEPHARDTS by refusing to fill Administration posts, confirm judges, pass a stimulus, attack Christianity, etc., I firmly believe they will have their assets handed to them in Nov 02.
W's father had more principles and power than the Democrats too. It got him nowhere.
"savedbygrace" trust me the SD voters that hang around this place all know the liability D'Asch-Hole is, and what we do need now is for GW to take to the campaign trail for the man he badgered into running against Tom's protege', Tim Johnson. John Thune, Congressman at large, SD is going to need all the help that GW and anti-Daschle folks around the country can muster.
Defeating Johnson this election cycle is the only way we will have any hope of defeating Daschle in the next. Tom knows that and will dump everything he can and then some into getting Tim Johnson re-elected.
Huge bump to the top.
Mr. President it is time to fight the Domestic War!!!
Ya hit the nail on the head, my friend.
The big media, in tandem with liberal Democrats, soon will begin their assault to lower those numbersAnd in tandem with some factions represented here on Free Republic, I might add...
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