Above It All?

Among the Northern Alliance, Powerline's Hindrocket is the only person predicting a Kerry victory.

The reason's not a bad one:

But President Bush, sadly, is too inarticulate to make his own case. He is a good man and generally a good decision-maker. At one time I thought he would become one of our greatest presidents. But he lacks the talent to defend himself against the torrents of hate that are being unleashed against him by the Democrats--an outpouring of viciousness that has no parallel in our history.

But there is a parallel; Reagan.

The left cordially detested Reagan. And they did it for many of the same reasons they hate Bush; he didn't play the same academic paper chase they all did; he gleefully ignores their ideals of "intelligence", to say nothing of their politics. And he outmaneuvers them politically at nearly every turn.

Reagan ignored the hate - in fact, he didn't dignify it with a response. He stayed on message. He let his opponents make him their subject - while he focused on the subjects that mattered.

Is that what Bush is doing? Is he letting the Democrat orgy of hatred and concurrent self-adultation play itself out in the media before focusing the nation and himself on the real task at hand - the war, the economy, and the presumptive choice between a flawed conservative and a perfect fabian statist?

I don't know. Karl Rove is no Lee Atwater. I have a hunch, though; if nothing else, Bush is adept at incorporating behavior he admires into his own act, and so far in this war he's shown his admiration for Reagan; his drive, and above all his focus on the key mission.

Hindrocket continues:

He has made, really, only one major mistake, his failure to control spending. But that mistake, together with a terrible run of bad luck, will, I am afraid, cost him his presidency.

I'm far from complacent about Bush's odds. I also have a thin crust of faith that the American people, in the end, aren't superficial enough to choose the likes of Kerry - and that Bush knows what really matters, politically.

The message; the war, the econony, the tax cuts.

It's what Reagan would have done.

Posted by Mitch at February 3, 2004 06:43 AM