Will Domestic Issues Be President Bush’s Real October Surprise?
By Bonnie Chernin Rogoff (10/05/04)
Debate number one was a huge disappointment for President Bush’s supporters. Senator John Kerry’s prosecutorial skills were on display and the President appeared weak, distracted and defensive. Mr. Kerry’s promise for a timely withdrawal of troops from Iraq is transparently false, since he didn’t offer a plan for maintaining security for its citizens. He also made some whopping errors stating that New York City’s subway system was shut down during the Republican convention and that there should be a global test to determine our policies for defending America from attack. Despite these faux pas, Kerry was focused while Bush was not. Conservatives nervously anticipate a potential drop in the polls for President Bush or a surge for Kerry. Whatever change occurs will be minimal and does not spell panic, but damage control is in order.
No one knows more than President Bush how dismally he presented in the debate, and he is already making amends by hitting the campaign trail and counterattacking Kerry as he should have done in Miami. However, TV newsdom’s “talking heads” having concluded that the next debate has the potential to doom President Bush’s re-election. Why? Because (they say) here’s a guy who stumbles badly when debating the issue where he is perceived as strongest (the war and terrorism) so how can he possibly hold up against John Kerry on issues where he is perceived as weakest (domestic policies)? I’ll remind these eminent academics that during the 2000 campaign they called Governor George Bush incompetent, derided his scope of knowledge as limited to domestic issues and that he lacked the interest, intellect or experience to be a powerful leader in foreign affairs if elected President. My, what a difference four years and 9-11 makes!
The next Townhall debate offers President Bush a perfect opportunity to challenge and foil Senator Kerry on this imaginary domestic turf. Issues like education and Social Security reform are not a proprietary formula of Democrats. While the war has been the President’s primary occupation, the fact is he has excelled on domestic issues and gone where no Republican or Democrat has gone before, especially with regard to his prescription drug benefit under Medicare for seniors, and the No Child Left Behind Act which he developed in cooperation with the ranting, ungrateful Senator Ted Kennedy.
Here’s what President Bush must do this week. First, he has to slam John Kerry and the Democratic leadership by pointing out that it is he who moved forward with progressive programs to help seniors and children. President Bush’s first debate went badly because he stuck to generalities. Now, he must get very specific, detailing the new Health Savings Accounts he created, how he strengthened Medicaid and SCHIP, provided access for millions of people to medical care with newly opened community health care centers and making health insurance tax credits available. On education, the President must remind viewers about the successful features of his NCLB program: improved reading and math scores, school accountability, historic federal funding for disadvantaged students, special-ed and reading programs, and school choice for parents. He must also elaborate on his extensive AIDS funding – unprecedented for any Republican. President Bush must point out how his administration strengthened Social Security, created jobs, and bolstered consumer confidence.
Finally, President Bush must defend his commitment to life and not wither when John Kerry accuses him of being “anti-choice.” It is up to the President to remind viewers of Kerry’s extreme positions, including supporting partial birth abortion and opposing parental knowledge and consent. The President must inform viewers about the advantages of adult stem cell research over embryonic stem cell research. He can’t assume they already know.
Viewers require specifics. Most important, President Bush must contrast what he has actually accomplished on the domestic front with what the Democrats only claim to accomplish in theory. The analysts and panelists elevated their craft to a new science of “mediatrics” in which they pamper us little folks with their lofty viewpoints, as if we have no minds of our own. They may question whether President Bush can effectively debate on traditionally strong Democratic issues like health care, but this year it may be just what the spin doctors ordered.
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