Word: populists
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...harangued for back-pedaling on promises and, notoriously, saying what they think the American public wants to hear. Consider for a moment popular reaction to President Clinton's ever-tottering policy toward Haitian refugees. Along those same lines, think about media response to Ross Perot's get-tough, populist stance toward America's "less than fair" trading partners abroad. All this seems mundane, typical to politics-as-usual...
...when it comes to "incidence"--that is, who will pay--there really isn't much of a difference. It is simply a matter of adroit pandering. In employer mandates, the liberals see an opportunity to strike a visible populist blow, by delivering health care and hiding its cost. Conservatives aim to please the business lobby by relieving them of the burden of providing health care (and though most businessmen realize they'll have to compensate with higher money wages, they'll still be happy to dispense with the administrative burden...
...right's brittle unity. Gaullist Prime Minister Edouard Balladur could be joined in the race for the Elysee by the neo-Gaullist party chief Jacques Chirac, whose prospects had been eclipsed by Balladur's Teflon popularity, and former President Valery Giscard d'Estaing. To crowd the field further, populist tycoon Bernard Tapie, under multiple criminal investigations, headed a high-scoring left-wing, pro-Europe ticket, which could inspire him to launch . a presidential...
...Colorful populist Edwin Edwards, Louisiana's gambling-loving and scandal- hounded but never convicted Governor, unexpectedly and without explanation announced that he would not seek a fifth term...
Another theory is that being Governor just wasn't much fun anymore. During his first two terms, from 1972 to 1980, Edwards was able to duplicate a populist strategy of his fabled predecessor Huey Long: tax the thriving oil and gas companies to fund generous patronage and state programs, much of it to the benefit of his coalition of poorer whites, French-speaking Cajuns and blacks. When oil prices took a dive in the mid-'80s, the good times stopped rolling. Edwards "was a sort of perpetual Santa Claus," says Ed Renwick, a professor of political science at Loyola University...