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...\Bull Moose" McCain campaign burnished conservative credentials of Bush, without hurting him among the pragmatists in the party. Landy explains how September 11 challenged fundamental policy tenets of both parties with significant electoral consequences in the future. September 11 revealed the limits of Democratic "moralism" in international policy, especially if this stance marks them as anti-American among key Democratic constituencies and swing voters. The Republicans, on the other hand, face the domestic dilemma of preserving their commitment to limited government without compromising the effectiveness of homeland security. Landy concludes by pointing out opportunities for the president to achieve "greatness" in his handling of international policy.
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"The Kaleidoscope has shifted." Tony Blair coined this metaphor to capture the impact of 9/11 on world politics generally, but it also helps clarify the impact of this earth shattering event on the American political scene. A new pattern is forming in the domestic as well as the world kaleidoscope. (1)
By the late 1990's our politics had sunk to a level of tepidness and fecklessness unequaled since the 1920's. The uproar over the vote in Florida, confined for the most part to party elites and strong identifiers, masked the extraordinary lack of policy difference between the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. On the foreign policy side much was made about Bush's critique of "nation-building" but in fact he offered no broad critique of the overall direction of Clinton foreign policy and no clear alternative to it. On the domestic front, there was a serious disagreement, but only one, taxes.
The tax cut represented the most important, and the only, important policy initiative of the pre-September 11 Bush White House. The faith- based initiative, which at first appeared promising, was defused by a combination of unexpected conservative opposition and genuine worries about its constitutionality. The most controversial, and potentially politically damaging issue Bush faced, the debate over stem cell research, he artfully dodged. The most roundly criticized of his foreign policy moves, withdrawing from the Kyoto agreement, was completely without practical import. After all, Clinton had signed the treaty in the face of a Senate Resolution opposing it. Clinton never made a serious attempt to obtain a favorable Senate vote preferring to wield it as a "wedge" for keeping the green vote from slipping to the Greens.
This situation is only partly explained by the phenomena of divided government. Previous divided governments had produced landmark statutes; the Tax Reform Act of 1984, The Clean Air Act of 1990, and the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 to name only the most ambitious and significant. As important as the deadlock between the parties were, it was deadlocks within the parties that greatly reduced the opportunities for major policy initiatives.
Republicans
The Clinton era Republicans scored two major political triumphs. They gained control of the governorships of all the most heavily populated states except California: Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey and Massachusetts. And they gained control of the House of Representatives for the first time in half a century and held on to it through three elections for the first time since the 1920's. These remarkable achievements were obtained in very different ways. The governors won by appealing to the center whereas the House Republican triumph was obtained largely by defeating Democrats from districts that had grown increasingly conservative. These very different political experiences forged very different political outlooks. The Republican governors were far more pragmatic in outlook while the House Republican leadership was much more closely aligned with "movement" conservatives, especially the Christian Right.
George W. Bush emerged as front runner for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination because he was the choice of the gubernatorial wing. Recognizing that defeating Al Gore would require running a moderate candidate, leading Republican governors managed to suppress their own ambitions to unite behind one of their own. This remarkable cohesion displayed by one of the two most powerful political elements in the Republican Party is noteworthy. The ability of the chief executives of so many large states to rally behind a single candidate in advance of the primaries is almost without precedent and...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos
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More articles from The Forum
The changing leadership of George W. Bush: a pre- and post- 9/11 compa..., July 17, 2002
The American people and president Bush., July 11, 2002
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