Monday, November 08, 2004

Broad mandate, political capital, et al

As we speak, Donks across the country are complaining that this election provided Bush with a broad mandate. That's fine. It is almost their sacred right to try to sooth their wounded prides by down playing the beating they took. It doesn't change the fact that Bush won a larger percentage of the vote than their most recent 2nd term President. It doesn't change the fact that Bush is the first president to win a majority (51%) since Bush Sr. in 1988. Finally, it doesn't change the fact that Republicans solidified leads in both Houses of Congress.

Bush does have political capital to spend right now, and he has to start spending it quickly. He has two years to accomplish whatever he wants to accomplish in his second term. Why two years? Two reasons. First, as he gets into year three, he starts to become more and more of a lame duck, and it is difficult for any lame duck President to get Congress to step out on a limb for him. Secondly, he is only guaranteed these leads in Congress through 2006. After that, the leads could grow, they could fall, or they could disappear completely. Bush has to be bold for the next two years and get as much of his legislation introduced as possible. This is all the more reason for him to not be the "uniter" that Donks howl that he should. Under their vision of a uniter, Bush policies would be gutted by compromises and held up until that third year. Better to try to convert a few Democrats to your side to accomplish something than to try to build some broad consensus that leads to ineffective legislation.

Bush's entire presidency will be summarized by these next two years. It is going to be interesting to see if he lives up to the greatness some of us see in him.

2 comments:

Mediaskeptic said...

I don't look for a grand legislative program from Bush. I look for consolidation of power in much the same way that he and his brother worked in Texas and in Florida to help the Democrat party in those states to reclaim their party from the loco Lefties championed by the press.

In Texas and in Florida this has meant working with the opposition on shared and common goals that both can embrace. This is not a sellout of conservative ideals but a long-term strategy of cooperation as opposed to opposition. It's a strategy that has kept both states in the Republican column. I expect that this will be the Bush agenda in the coming months and years. Right now, the media is trying to generate anxiety about what Bush will do and how little time he has to do it. The fact is, the Democrats are demonstrating daily that they are allowing the Left in their party to continue to drive them leftward as they criticize the "hicks" who voted against them, which means the next midterm elections will be a reprise of this one unless they smarten up and start recognizing that the New York Times isn't dictating the agenda anymore.

So, I am not worried. I am glad to sit back and watch masters of the art perform.

Anonymous said...

Great point. Bush's comments at his press conference make me wonder if this is the case, though. A President who says he has earned political capital and plans to spend it, and who says he will reach across the aisle to anyone who shares our beliefs doesn't sound like he plans on taking up this strategy. I think he tried that strategy in his first term and found out that it just doesn't work that well in Washington. By pushing hard to get what he wants, he might push the Democrats even further to the left than they are already being driven. If that is what they are doing, it is a very high risk, high reward situation. They could really move the Republican party into dominance in the country. If they don't do it right, though, they could squander everything that they've built up over the past ten years.