If Tuesday`s election returns don`t wake up George Bush and sleeping company, maybe nothing can. The president already missed one grand chance to regain the confidence of the American people in his State of the Union address, which should have begun with an apology and ended with the command:
Hard to starboard! Instead, he coasted. He gave the conventional speech of a conventional president in conventional times. The result now is apparent in New Hampshire.
George Bush won this primary only formally. A sitting president who lets an opponent get nearly 40 percent of the vote in the nation`s first primary is in trouble. And Bush is in trouble. Our somnambulant chief will be in more if, instead of responding to this alarm, he hits the snooze button.
Unless he proposes to be a one-term president, Bush needs to utter a brief though sincere apology-he`ll find the voters quick to forgive if only they`re asked-and come out swinging: at Congress, at Democrats and at the know-nothings, isolationists and knee-jerk nativists who constitute Pat Buchanan`s natural and naturally small claque. Only the president`s indolence has allowed his challenger to expand a fringe group into a protest vote.
Buchanan has a much larger audience than he does a constituency. But to make that clear, George Bush will have to stop fencing and start slugging;
he`s survived on war stories and Ronald Reagan`s accumulated political capital long enough. The American people want to know what a president has done for us lately; our ingratitude is not only legendary but a key to our progress. No leader gets to rest on past favors in this ever-churning society of swirl. George Bush is not running against Pat Buchanan but against his own impression of distance and indifference.
Buchanan is perfect as the star of a talk show, or rather a shout show, and he can embarrass a president as readily as he does himself, but are those presidential qualifications? Saying embarrassing things is an occupational hazard of journalists, but Pat Buchanan has made it a zealous habit. He may be able to knock off George Bush if this president still doesn`t get the message- just as Gene McCarthy forced Lyndon Johnson out of the White House in 1968. But he`ll only have paved the way for another candidate this year, perhaps a Democratic one.
Even when Pat Buchanan says acceptable things, he isn`t. This political brawler isn`t the Barry Goldwater of 1992 but the Joe McCarthy. I hasten to add that the comparison is not entirely fair to the late Sen. McCarthy, whose phobias were only political rather than racial or religious. In short, the Republican primary in New Hampshire had two losers.
On the other hand, Paul Tsongas deserved to win the Democratic primary in New Hampshire. His was a victory for more than himself; it was a triumph for decency, candor and good humor. It might even be called an astounding victory if the man weren`t so low-key. It merits celebration-soberly and responsibly, of course, as becomes this winner`s anti-style. More news like this and the reputation of the American electorate will soar.
Tsongas`s first-place showing was a defeat, too-a defeat for cynicism and glitz and high pressure and snap answers. Like spinach, Paul Tsongas is an acquired taste, but there`s no reason he shouldn`t catch on far beyond his native New England. This country may be sick of hype. Not since Wendell Willkie has business had such an appealing champion, or common sense made such surprising inroads.
The primaries to come this year will determine whether the country deserves so soft-spoken yet straight-talking a candidate. His rivals began by condescending to the ”unelectable” Tsongas. They caught on a lot slower than the people of New Hampshire, who made him the man to beat.
Tuesday night`s election was also a victory for Arkansas` Bill Clinton, who promptly dubbed himself the Comeback Kid. His second-place finish was indeed an impressive comeback, and in some telling ways (particularly his casual approach to truth) he`s still a kid. He earned Tuesday night`s moment of triumph mixed with relief. To paraphrase Mr. Lincoln, you can fool 26 percent of the people some of the time. It was clear, at least for one night, that the Comeback Kid hadn`t been nailed; this guy could have been born on roller skates.
Once again Slick Willie managed to deflect attention from what should trouble voters-not some chantoosie`s story, or his draft record 20 years ago, but the multiple inconsistencies in the stories he`s told to explain that record for more than a decade. Reviewing those conflicting explanations, one is reminded of the old tale about the witness who is told to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. ”I can do that,” he replies with sublime confidence. ”Which one do you want?”
What other pretenses will the Comeback Kid successfully sell to voters as one victory smoothly succeeds another-that he was an Early Supporter of the War in the Persian Gulf? Champion of the Middle Class? Adept Administrator?
Advocate of the Rule of Law even where the rights of a political opponent were concerned? Author of Arkansas`s (non-existent) Civil Rights Act? Friend of the Weakest in Society, a governor whose child-welfare program was scandal-free and adequately funded? He`s got a trunkful of these costume changes.
Another great morality play is about to unfold and, once again, the American people will have a ringside seat. State after state, hurdle after hurdle, act after act, the campaign now proceeds. The great wheels that can crush or elevate have been set in motion. The mills of truth begin to grind slowly, if exceeding fine.
With the exception of being hanged in a fortnight, nothing may so wonderfully concentrate the mind as running for president of the United States. For Paul Tsongas, it`ll be a test of character. For Bill Clinton, a test of footwork. Already the Comeback Kid begins to remind one of a young, if smoother, Richard Nixon-right down to a tendency to keep replaying the early, narrow escapes of his career and learn precisely the wrong lessons from them. Nixon, too, was a great one for comebacks.
More Top Picks 504 Accommodations For Migraines And Light Sensitivity