John L. Perry
Tuesday, June 15, 2004
The reasons being given why George W. Bush will not be reelected are the very reasons he will be reelected – and by an impressive margin.
This is because his opponents have grossly failed to judge the nature of America and the character of the man, himself – the same way and for the same reasons Ronald Reagan’s opponents grossly misjudged him and the nature of America during his presidency.
It’s no accident that many of those now maligning Bush are of the same crowd in the news media who maligned Reagan. They are still making the same self-defeating mistake of actually believing what they see in the mirrors of distortion they are holding up to America. They didn’t understand America then; they don’t understand America now.
Here are the principal distortions that condescending leftists are instructing American voters will cause them to defeat Bush in November –and why just the opposite is the case.
Distortion: The country is divided, and it’s all Bush’s fault.
Correction: America has never been entirely of one mind, but it is certainly less divided now than during or right after the Vietnam War.
The reality is that America is of three minds, not two. There are the far left and the far right (both distinct minorities) and there is a non-stationary middle, occupied by the huge majority of Americans. Increasingly, this great middle has been redefining toward the conservative side.
Bush did not cause that, but is facilitating the shift. The leftists, more and more irresponsibly out of touch with the middle, are the ones accelerating it. America is now a nation more conservative than not, growing ever more united in that direction, not more divided.
How Bush benefits: By identifying with, and leading, this political realignment, Bush gains every step along the way.
Distortion: The economy is in the dumpster, and it’s all Bush’s fault.
Correction: No. The economy was shrinking dangerously in the early months of the Bush administration, but no longer. Every economic indicator since January 2004 is on a dramatic upswing.
And no. The “Bush recession” was in truth caused by events in the administration of Bill Clinton and was well along its downward way when Bush took office. Were it not for Bush’s tax cuts, that Clinton recession would have descended right into a Bush depression.
How Bush benefits: The welcome impact of the authentic Bush recovery is just now being realized in Americans’ daily lives. The more the leftists harp on the economy, the more that will help Bush in November.
Distortion: Bush is bullheaded, and won’t take advice from his betters.
Correction: Those know-it-alls are the failed practitioners and surly apologists of the Clinton era. The news media call them in to testify at every turn of events, and the more they carp the more obvious become their motivations and their ineffectiveness.
Americans are beginning to realize that what critics call Bush’s bullheadedness is in truth a resolute steadfastness of principles.
How Bush benefits: In a world where unfamiliar uncertainty and unprecedented danger lurk, Americans welcome surety of principle and purpose in the presidency. The temptation to change horses in the middle of such a stream has less and less appeal.
Distortion: Bush is politically incorrect, out of step with most Americans.
Correction: The opposite is true. The leftists are indulging in self-sycophancy if they think they represent mainstream America.
How Bush benefits: He has the proper posture for reelection in today’s America – one foot planted firmly in the unshakable, traditional conservative base and the other comfortably far enough into the mostly conservative middle. Neither footing alone is sufficient to win an election; taken together, they constitute an astonishing new majority.
Distortion: Bush is a reckless cowboy, who has put America in greater peril.
Correction: If that is so, then for the same reasons so were Ronald Reagan and Franklin D. Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Each was scolded in his time that he was leading America to ruin. Had they lacked the courage to take the risks they took, America would be in ruins today. Bush has demonstrated such courage.
How Bush benefits: Americans are now beginning to see Bush in the true light of historic reality, thanks to the conjunction of three colossal events – the birthing of a free Iraq rising out of the Bush-led war of liberation, the 60th commemoration of D-Day launching the liberation of Europe from Nazi tyranny and the “surprising” outpouring of national affection and respect in remembrance of Ronald Reagan as the kind of president America admires.
Distortion: The Iraq war is a disaster, not worth the cost of undertaking or seeing through to the end.
Correction: Not even the press can keep hidden the truth that the liberation of Iraq is one of the noblest acts ever undertaken by any nation in the advancement of human freedom.
How Bush benefits: It is going to be political immolation for the Democratic presidential candidate if he tries to tell American families their sacrifices in Iraq are worthless. It’s one thing for John Kerry scornfully to throw away his own medals from the Vietnam War, something else to trash those earned by American troops in Iraq.
Distortion: Bush insists on going it alone, alienating other nations.
Correction: He did not go it alone – except for shreckless France, ungrateful Germany and devious Russia. Now that Bush has done the hard work in Iraq, he has a unanimous Security Council – France, Germany and Russia unwilling to “go it alone.” And he will likely have NATO with him in short order.
How Bush benefits: Beyond that, there’s a swelling good-for-Bush feeling in America even if he were to go it alone. Lincoln didn’t beg Europe’s permission. FDR got the approval of only Congress, as did Bush. Reagan went entirely alone to the Berlin Wall and never said, “Mr. Gorbachev, if it’s all right with you, please tear down this wall.” Kerry will have tough sledding advocating groveling.
Distortion: Bush isn’t qualified intellectually, simply not up to the job.
Correction: That was easy to say four years ago, impossible to peddle now. America and the world have seen the stuff of which Bush is made.
How Bush benefits: Here again is the parallel with Reagan, who it is now clear knew exactly what he was doing while just about everyone else was dithering.
Kerry is the one who has the unassailable record of flipping and flopping, triple-tonguing an uncertain trumpet, groping around for a running mate agile enough to hop on first one foot and then the other keeping up with Kerry from moment to moment.
So waste no time listening to leftist politicians and news-media mind-minders who complain about this and grump about that when characterizing Bush. Of course they don’t like him, for all the reasons they give.
It’s precisely because of those reasons that, to their doom and gloom, George W. Bush is going to win reelection – and win big.
That’s the kind of America that America really is.
