Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 28, 1992 TAG: 9202280398
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAXTON DAVIS>
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
DITHER, TWITTER
A FRIEND of mine, taking a historical tour of one of the venerable hotels of Virginia, got a fresh look at the 1992 presidential election last weekend when the tour guide told the assembled audience that every president since Someone in the crowd shot back, "Then he'd better hurry!"Until then, gloomy about the election and its attendant sorrows, my friend had viewed the re-election of hysterical George Bush as a dismal likelihood. But he cheered up promptly at this grass-roots evidence that the hostility to Bush already displayed in New Hampshire exists elsewhere as well.
He was cheered even more that night, as I was, when still another friend, a lawyer interested in politics, a Democrat but by no means a member of the "left-liberal" wing of the party Bush keeps attacking, assured us flatly that he believes a Clinton-Tsongas ticket will not only be a popular Democratic bill but will sweep George Bush into the ashcan of discredited and repudiated presidents.
I cannot say I yet dare let myself believe this rosy prophecy, and I suspect pigs will fly before Bush loses Virginia. But Virginia is not the country, praise Allah, and political writers and broadcast commentators of all stripes seem to agree that Bush is in deep trouble across much of the nation, on the defensive, unable to respond coherently to criticism of his record in office.
The problem is not only that Bush is a political jellyfish without the "core convictions" that define a strong president, but also that his seeming "victories" in Panama and the Persian Gulf have obscured until now the twittering frauds and false starts of his term of office.
He has reversed himself so often, compromised his apparent "views" so deceitfully, caught on to what has happened to the American economy so belatedly and grasped the fundamental character of American public unhappiness so inadequately that he has produced massive dissatisfaction with his presidency from both poles of the political spectrum.
Within his own party, he has alienated the right wing so deeply that its support in either the Republican nominating convention or in the general election in November can no longer be taken for granted. GOP "conservatives" - angry at Bush for, as they loudly point out, raising taxes after pledging not to, dissatisfied with him for signing a civil-rights bill he had sworn to veto - are deserting him, with public statements of their unhappiness, in swarms. This is, of course, the dissatisfaction Pat Buchanan has exploited; and though the legitimacy of their complaints, of or Buchanan's attacks, may be arguable, the alienation is visibly widespread. Dan Quayle's plea with right-wingers to stay aboard is a measure of Bush's desperation.
With the more moderate elements of the GOP, Bush has fared little better. Though once considered a Republican moderate himself, Bush has in the eyes of many pandered to reactionary demands most moderates privately, if not publicly, deplore. His wobbling from center to right has proved to be not an aberration but his essential political character, with the result that he is not deeply trusted by either side. On most issues, he has failed to enunciate a workable position that members of the GOP can support with enthusiasm.
Deepening the irritation of both, moreover, is Bush's inanity, not to say lunacy, in public. Making a fool of himself appears to be basic. In Japan he not only promised trade reforms he could not make, but also vomited on the Japanese prime minister. He denied the existence of the recession until it engulfed him. In New Hampshire, his response to the abundant evidence that he was losing Republican votes to Buchanan was to take along Arnold Schwarzenegger. New Hampshire voters wondered why not Ronald McDonald and refused to be amused. The result was that Bush won only 53 percent of GOP votes.
Can he be defeated? Not by Buchanan, certainly. Unless Bush bails out voluntarily, his nomination, however begrudging, seems inevitable. Can the Democrats do the job? I'm not ready to predict.
Paxton Davis is a Roanoke Times & World-News columnist.