Posted on 10/15/2003 9:45:02 PM PDT by dpflanagan
THE KING IS DEAD
The “I feel your pain” President is gone and it seems now that his legacy of electoral success is irrecoverable. Perhaps he pushed the envelope just one too many times, or maybe the former President’s brand of politics just cannot be properly wielded by anyone but Bill Clinton himself. Like Excalibur to Arthur, so are Clinton and his ability to create controversy and dodge the consequences.
Its clear to me that Excalibur will not be wielded by anyone other than the former King himself. Furthermore, the wielding of this weapon seems to have harmed Clinton's party far more than it ever hurt the Republican Party. From the day that Bill Clinton took office to today, his party has experienced a steady decline in influence throughout the nation.
The latest example of this is Bill Clinton’s complete failure to help Gray Davis salvage his failing Governorship. I have to believe that our former President pulled out all of his old slings and arrows during the campaign. Governor-elect Schwarzenegger was painted as an abuser of women, a manipulator, a druggy, and who knows what else. Ultimately, though, It may all have backfired
Not only did Schwarzenegger win, he won so clearly and decisively that all the lawsuits being contemplated by the opposition will now be far more difficult to carry out. Had the recall been close, at least Davis could have tied things up in court for several months on the claim of voter “disenfranchisement.” But Davis lost big, and that should be a sign to the party of the defeated that their king is well and truly gone.
Perhaps old king Clinton was just a myth in the first place. Whatever he was, his time has come and gone, and he will not return. If Democratic leaders wish to again take on the mantle of leadership, I believe that they must first throw off the legacy of the Clinton Presidency, and depose all of his former servants, starting with DNC Chairman Terry McAullife. But, for them to do so, they must have a new king, and a new direction, and the question of who to them is just as vexing as their inability to gain any political ground against their Republican rivals
LONG LIVE THE KING!
Democratic leaders may be too confused or too out of touch with the American people to act, but the hard left of their party has already endorsed their new candidate, former Governor of Vermont, Howard Dean, and are pressing towards his coronation as the new heir-elect of the Democratic throne. Its a strange but true fact that, even as you read these words, the hard left of the Democratic Party is trying to replace the “I feel your pain” President with an “I feed your pain” presidential candidate.
Before I go on, let me reiterate my firm belief that this strange co-dependent relationship between Dean and angry Dems does not reflect the mood of the entire party. Its even possible that they are a minority. But, unfortunately for Democratic Party leaders, theirs is the dominant voice, fueled by frustration and anger and egged on by Dean and the mainstream press. You could, I believe, make the case that this segment of the party is in the throes of a full-fledged temper tantrum.
Just like any child in the midst of a tantrum, they are running, not on logic, but on pure emotion and they don’t care who sees them, figuratively speaking, lying on the floor with arms and legs flailing. Unfortunately, their incessant whining has been aided and abetted by the mainstream media, who are only too happy to echo any and all complaints against a conservative president.
But, is Howard Dean the heir-elect of the hard left because he is one of them, or is it simply because he recognized and effectively tapped into this anger in pursuit of the Democratic nomination? One thing is certain, its easier to influence people who are running on emotion, and the hard left of the Democratic party has been exceptionally emotional since their candidate, Al Gore, lost his bid for the presidency in 2000.
So what does this mean for conservatives? Its hard to say, but in the short term, I believe that this divided Democratic party will continue to flounder. Before things have any hope of getting better for them, the angry left is going to have to get some counseling, and the Democratic Party overall is going to have to moderate its stance on many issues.
Ever since Bush took office, Democrats in Washington, D.C. have been falling over themselves to remake their image as the “anti-Bush” party. As a strategy, it has failed miserably, mainly because 9/11 reminded us that we live in an incredibly dangerous world and that our government, no matter who is at the helm, must fulfill its duty to provide for the common defense.
You can critisize President Bush for being too aggressive regarding Iraq, but at least he has heard the wishes of the vast majority of Americans and has responded in a positive way. As for Dems, I still have not seen any kind of positive vision for America coming out of their campaigns. All they continue to do is Bash the president and float possible plans to deal with Medicare (spend more money), taxes (repeal them all yesterday), and education (spend LOTS more money).
For those of you who may not be aware, none of the above constitutes a VISION, rather, they are all just IDEAS. A vision tells Americans where a candidate, or an elected official, the direction they would like to see the country go. Visionary leaders have a big picture view of the world and can convey a sense of confident, positive direction to citizens, effectively rallying their support.
Soon after 9/11, President Bush created a visionfor the American people of a world that was free of terrorism. He offered up the vision FIRST, then explained the steps that would be taken to make the vision a reality. So, in a very real way, the nine remaining Democratic presidential hopefuls have gotten the horse before the cart. If they want support and attention, they need to work on THEIR vision for our future, and sell it every day.
Has any of the nine presented a comprehensive vision yet? I don’t believe they have. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.
David Flanagan
Viewpointjournal.com
Paging "The King of Ping" JohnHuang2,
Your long reaching arm of ping list is needed for this excellent essay
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