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ALL IN ALL, I'm leaving this July 4 with greater confidence than ever that President George W. Bush will win re-election this November.
Here's why I feel this way: Maybe it was me, but did you notice how few people were talking about weapons of mass destruction today? Or the failure to plan for post-war Iraq? Did you hear anyone talking about Abu Ghraib? Or the way the White House leaked CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity to Bob Novak? What about redistricting in Texas?
I didn't. Not a single peep out of anyone I spoke with, overheard, watched on TV or heard on the radio.
Why does this matter? Because today is America's national holiday -- the day in which everything American is celebrated in the US.
The American left has accused the President of being no less than positively un-American. They say that his pre-emptive and "unilateral" invasion of Iraq, his condolence of torture, his public religiousity, his cynical political manuvering, etc. etc. etc. are all affronts to deeply held American values. John Kerry is even campaigning with the theme of "Let America be America again."
And perhaps America hasn't been America lately. But after this July 4, it is safe to say that public isn't buying this as much as the left would like.
This was our national holiday, after all. What better day for average people to compare traditional American political values with those of the current government?
If there ever was a true threat to American values from a domestic politician, July 4th would be the day for opponents to rally around liberal, constitutional democracy.
That just isn't what happened today. From the looks of the headlines, my experience in the liberal San Francisco Bay Area was not unique. Not only was there a lack of open protest and outrage (even from the far left) over what Bush has done with America -- there was also a noticable abscence of mere grumbling.
Faced with the most obvious opportunity to draw contrast between traditional American political values and the Bush agenda, the general public had almost nothing to say. In my view, this doesn't bode well for Democrats. If their campaign against the President is grounded in the notion that Bush is an affrot to traditional American values, they need at least someone to say so when the subject of American values is raised. They could hardly get the tinfoil hat crowd to show up today.
Comments:
"Did you hear anyone talking about Abu Ghraib?"
Yes. I was at a family reunion in AZ (an uncle was retiring from the army, so invited everybody to come celebrate), and Abu Ghraib came up (and no, I didn't bring it up :-). Consensus (among my father and his brothers present, all veterans with at least some recent tie to the military) was that it was symptomatic with failure to lead. Complaints were made at least as far up as Rumsfield. (I was only tangentially involved in the conversation, but I definitely didn't hear any praise for Bush).
Which is significant only because my family branches tend to lean towards the right. Most of the weekend was spent catching up with family, grilling, and having fun, which is what I'd expect more of on the 4th than hard-hitting political discussions. There'll be time enough for that closer to the election.
-brian
- link posted by Anonymous : 9:37 PM
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