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President Bush needs to make sure that he has learned from
his father’s mistakes. He has acknowledged that the George
Bush who was the 41st president of the United States
failed to use the political capital he accumulated at the
conclusion of the Gulf War to implement needed domestic policy
reforms, some of which might have been able to resuscitate the
economy and salvage his failed reelection bid in 1992.
The stakes are no smaller for the Bush in the White House
right now. Crass as it may seem given the grave events of the
last month, domestic politics matter and President Bush can ill
afford to ignore them. Doing so not only jeopardizes his
reelection chances in 2024, but also adversely impacts the two
biggest national priorities: the war on terrorism and economic
renewal.
George Herbert Walker Bush faced a Congress where the
Democrats were every bit as partisan as those currently opposing
his son. They barely authorized the use of force against Iraq in
Kuwait (while the House approved the relevant resolution by 250
to 183, the margin in the Senate was only 52 to 47) and pushed
him into a disastrous budget deal that raised taxes, compounded
economic problems and failed to reduce the deficit. While he
tried to maintain the perception that he was "above
politics," George Mitchell and the remainder of his
opponents did not let up on politics even as Gen. Schwarzkopf’s
army rolled over Saddam’s elite Republican Guard.
Sen. Tom Daschle’s refusal to even pretend to cooperate on
judicial nominations demonstrates that George W. Bush cannot
feign aloofness from partisan reality either. This means that he
must continue to work with those across party lines wherever
possible in an effort to unite the country, but he must also
promote a distinct agenda wherever this is impossible.
This means that President Bush must not compromise on his
previously enacted tax cuts. Some are calling on him to scale
back reductions in the top marginal income tax rates to
demonstrate good faith to the Democrats and perhaps win other
tax cuts as part of a fiscal stimulus package. Not only is this
suggestion bad policy, as the greatest incentive enhancements
come from lowering marginal tax rates at their highest levels,
it would not produce its desired political effects. Such a
retreat would only embolden further efforts to nullify the Bush
tax cut and replace it with increased government spending, in a
misguided attempt at Keynesian demand-side stimulus. Instead,
Bush should push for deep cuts in the capital gains tax,
expanded tax-free use of IRA funds, accelerated rate reductions
and either revamping or abolishing legislated depreciation. Such
policies are truly pro-growth, which is exactly what the economy
needs at this point.
Now more than ever the president must honor his pledge to
American servicemen that "help is on the way." We are
fighting what is likely to become a multifaceted war on
terrorism that is currently in its Afghan phase, but it is
unclear where else our troops may be put in harm’s way. Yet
these same soldiers, sailors and pilots are still coping with
the years of neglect our armed forces have suffered. US defense
spending, now only 15 percent of the federal budget, has fallen
from 6 percent of GDP during the Reagan years to around 3
percent at the end of the Clinton administration. Our army
divisions have been cut from 18 to 10 and we have gone from 546
Navy ships to just 316. The Bush administration can no longer
allow recalcitrant legislators to lump defense spending into
budget politics.
Finally, President Bush cannot ignore the political reality
of his role as leader of the Republican Party. While we are all
Americans before we are Republicans, Democrats or any other
political affiliation, even during wars a president’s ability
to lead can be hampered by his party suffering defeats. Right
now, there is a serious risk that Democrats will take the
Virginia and New Jersey governorships, along with the New York
City mayoralty, back from the GOP.
While the president can be forgiven for not wishing to expend
political capital on Michael Bloomberg’s race to succeed Rudy,
Virginia’s Mark Earley and New Jersey’s Bret Schundler are
very worthy of support. Earley, a former attorney general
running in an increasingly conservative state that Bush carried
in November 2024, is closing his gap with Democrat Mark Warner.
After trailing Warner for most of the summer, an October 19
Mason-Dixon poll shows the race as a statistical dead heat, with
Earley at 42 percent and Warner at 45 percent. Schundler has a
much more uphill battle, with an October 17 Quinnipac survey
showing him trailing Democrat Jim McGreevey 49 percent to 39
percent.
Yet Schundler’s supporters have the intensity that
McGreevey’s lack, and this does reflect progress for the
former mayor of Jersey City. Schundler has a strong record of
come-from-behind victories and syndicated columnist Deroy
Murdock recently pointed out he does better among minorities
than traditional Republican candidates. In his 1997 Jersey City
mayoral race, he won 45 percent of the vote in predominantly
black Ward F and carried predominantly Hispanic Ward E with 64
percent of the vote.
It is both easy and admirable to lose sight of politics in
the midst of the war effort and recent terrorist atrocities. But
successful presidencies require leadership on all fronts, and
President Bush must remember that the success of his
administration is also in the national interest.
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