Posted on 01/03/2002 3:01:52 AM PST by JohnHuang2
CAL THOMAS Bush ready for the domestic war
President Bush returns to Washington this week with progress in the war against terrorism but knowing that the conflict is not over. He will face a situation nearly identical to the one his father confronted: a Democratic majority in the Senate lead by a man with a nice smile whose sole objective was to beat Bush in the next election.The president's father faced Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell. George W. Bush faces Mitchell's political reincarnation in Tom Daschle, D-S.D. The elder Bush mistakenly believed he could get along with Mitchell and that his ``kinder-gentler'' approach would bring Mitchell around. Mitchell tied up every meaningful piece of legislation Bush tried to enact, then blamed Bush for the lack of results. Surely this President Bush can see an instant replay coming.
Daschle has thrown down a gauntlet, saying that he will allow votes only when a ``super majority'' of 60 votes is in favor. He claims historical precedent, extending back to the Founding Fathers for his position. In fact, he has few historical legs to stand on, and Bush should call him on this. He should start by quoting FDR, the Democratic patron saint, who said in 1937: ``Majority rule must be preserved as the safeguard of both liberty and civilization. Under it, property can be secure; under it, abuses can end; under it, order can be maintained -- and all of this for the simple, cogent reason that to the average of our citizenship can be brought a life of greater opportunity, of greater security, of greater happiness.''
Roosevelt said majority rule preserved ``our fundamental institutions against the ceaseless attack of those who have no faith in democracy.''
In 1788, James Madison opposed a super majority. ``In all cases where justice or the general good might require new laws to be passed or active measures to be pursued, the fundamental principle of free government would be reversed,'' he wrote.
``It would be no longer the majority that would rule; the power would be transferred to the minority . . . a practice which leads more directly to public convulsions, and the ruin of popular governments, than any other which has yet been displayed among us.''
Thomas Jefferson was even more succinct, saying in 1809: ``Where the law of the majority ceases to be acknowledged, there government ends; the law of the strongest takes its place, and life and property are his who can take it.''
President Bush's adversaries are not Democrats, per se. Some moderate Democrats have joined with him on some issues. His opponent is liberalism. He should resurrect the political ghost of the late Lee Atwater, who labeled Michael Dukakis, the elder Bush's Democratic opponent in 1988, a ``card-carrying member of the ACLU'' and a threat to all we hold dear.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist offered some help last week. He said that the Senate's delay in confirming judges to the federal bench is hurting the war against terrorism.
The president's schmoozing of liberal Democrats such as Daschle and House Minority leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri was good public relations, and it won some points for Bush while half the country was still disputing the 2000 election results. But now is the time to oppose adversaries at home with the same resolve that the president shows his enemies abroad.
Bush has said that he must spend some of his political capital and that his high approval ratings will not last. The big media, in tandem with liberal Democrats, soon will begin their assault to lower those numbers. He should take the initiative and force his opponents to react to what he's doing, not react to their criticism of him. It worked when Bush won his pre-war tax cut measure. It can work again.
FIGHT BACK
A domestic policy ``war room'' should be created (though let's call it something else to avoid comparisons with the previous administration). Just as presidential advisor Karen Hughes has lead an information campaign to counter propaganda coming from Osama bin Laden, so should the administration immediately respond to every statement and strategy of liberal Democrats, defining them before they define Bush.
Whether it's a history lesson or a charge that liberals are hurting the war against terrorism, the president must show the same mettle he has demonstrated against terrorism to promote the policies he believes are best for the country.
©2002 Tribune Media Services
Current Population of the U.S.: 281,421,906
Current Population of South Dakota: 754,844
So, a little man that represents a little state (no disrespect to freedom-loving South Dakotans) which accounts for 0.0026% of the population of the U.S. Further, if you consider that lil' Tommy is 1 of 2 Senators that represents the state, it's 0.0053% of the population of the U.S.
Isn't there something wrong with this picture? Does lil' Tommy mean to tell me that he -one little man- can demand a rule that 3/5 of all Senators must vote to get so-called "controversial" legislation passed? You mean that a man who represents, at MOST, 0.0026% of the population can demand that 60% of his colleagues must follow his rules?
Cal is right on. W should treat lil' Tommy like the piss-ant, punk-a$$, 0.0026%-of-the-population-representin little domestic terrorist that he is.
Who says I'm not?!
You up fer Lunch one day next week?!
FReegards...MUD
Sure.
I'd hope GW could put little Tommy Dashole in his place without have to resort to repeating the words of that socialist miscreant.
It will be interesting to see how GW handles campaigning this election cycle. I have to admit that as much as I admire the man I am still waiting to see him become the political leader of his party. I hope he isn't as naive as his dad was in dealing with the opposition.
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