Word: dole
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...Bill Clinton in 1996 has one amazing thing in common with Ronald Reagan in 1984: he is considered overwhelmingly likely to be re-elected. Clinton now leads in polls by nearly as much as Ronald Reagan did at his renomination in 1984. Despite Bob Dole's convention bounce, the pundits remain just as convinced that Clinton will beat Dole as they were that Reagan would beat Mondale. The polls and pundits could be wrong, of course, but the evidence is striking. People tell pollsters that they don't approve of Clinton's character or believe in his truthfulness but that...
...more sophisticated pro-Clinton version goes like this: Americans are no more cynical than they have always been. Sure, Clinton is a slick politician and a morally flawed human being--but so is Dole, and so were other Republican presidential candidates of recent years. It's just that in the years between Lyndon Johnson and Clinton, the Democrats got in the habit of nominating high-minded, too-good-for-this-world types like George McGovern, Jimmy Carter and Michael Dukakis. Not coincidentally, they also got in the habit of losing elections. So finally in 1992 the Democrats nominated somebody...
...course, Americans are in for a disappointment if they think they can somehow enjoy the benefits of the Republican small-government revolution while President Clinton protects them from the cost. Republicans are understandably furious at Clinton for implying that he can produce this alchemy (although Dole is now promising the same magic). And they are understandably annoyed that the voters, having invited them to conduct their revolution, should now seem inclined to punish them for doing so. It's hard not to sympathize: the Republicans made the rare mistake, upon taking over Congress, of acting on their principles--after...
Both American political parties have survived long term by accommodating reality. You don't hear Dole repeating his gaffe of a few months ago, reminding voters that he opposed Medicare back in 1965. Republicans have made their peace with Social Security, the Civil Rights Act, Medicare and so on. Any attempts to prune or reform these programs, however justifiable, are urgently identified as efforts to "save" them. Similarly, Clinton won election, and seems to be winning re-election, by leading his party's adjustment to the political landscape created by Reagan. Republicans have the delicate challenge of arguing simultaneously that...
...DOLE...