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Jewish World Review Oct. 16, 2003 / 20 Tishrei, 5764

Dick Morris

Dick Morris
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The raging fury against the political establishment


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | There is always a temptation to put a partisan spin on voter anger and pretend it is directed at one or the other of our political parties. Republicans celebrate the upheaval of the Democrats in California. Democrats chuckle at Bush's dive in the polls. Republicans have their share of fun in watching first Howard Dean and then Wesley Clark eclipse the best and the brightest among the Democratic candidates.

But the fact is that none of these three political earthquakes is directed at a party.

All are directed against the political establishment in general. It is the political class that the voters are angry at, not just its practitioners in either party. Voters are in such a froth at the political establishment that anything is possible as this election year takes shape.

Leading all other causes of this massive anger is the sense of having been deceived over the issue of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. However aggressively the administration tries to spin David Kay's report to indicate that Saddam was, indeed, worth ousting, the plain fact is that any 7-year-old watching television believed that Bush and Co. had plain evidence of masses of weapons scattered about the country.

The fact that they are not there is galling to voters.

Just as Bush Sr. tripped over raising taxes after pledging "read my lips: no new taxes," so Bush Jr. is finding it hard to overcome his own statements earlier in the year. Bush is deeply wrong if he believes that the current good economic news will bail him out of his midterm doldrums. Bush I didn't lose over the economy. He fell over a lack of credibility. Bush II will not recover with a good economy. He needs to bridge the credibility gap he has created.

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Most of us don't think Bush lied. We can't bring ourselves to think that. But we do think that we were misled through malfeasance or incompetence, and we don't like it one bit. The fact that Americans massively approve of ousting Saddam is quite beside the point. We don't like being fed a fantasy as a justification for a war.

But the anger in America has deeper causes than just Bush's credibility. Voters feel that the political class is introverted, self-absorbed and as impervious to outside influences as Catholic bishops. They see our political leaders as ignoring our needs and wishes in a self-perpetuating oligarchy of power. The lifetime tenure the members of the House awarded themselves in cahoots with their respective state legislatures through massive gerrymandering is but one example of this arrogance of power.

The hardest thing to do in politics is to be an insider and still think like an outsider.

Senators and congressmen must be able to dine with presidents and still think like factory workers. The groupthink inside the Beltway can be numbing and few politicians really understand how to reach out through it to grasp what Americans are thinking.

The hothouse of adulation within the capital and the frequent frost of public reactions outside of it create a fog through which it is hard to see.

But Arnold Schwarzenegger's election and the surge of Dean and Clark in the Democratic polls come as beacons reminding us of the voter anger that lies just beyond the Beltway. Its raw, almost uncivilized quality cuts across party lines and leads to a ubiquitous call to throw the incumbents out.

Ponder for a moment how the Democratic establishment, rooted so deeply in California so as to make it virtually a one-party state, could be so easily swept aside.

Think about the fact that four candidates representing the cream of the Democratic Party's congressional leadership — a former vice presidential candidate, their former floor leader in Congress, their most charismatic senator and the latest Clinton Southern wannabe — have been swept aside by an unknown former governor of Vermont with a good Internet list and a previously unknown general from the army, albeit one with no great military victories to his credit.

Only in an environment laced with voter discontent and anger could such drastic upheavals be possible. It's not a good year to venture out to the polls.

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JWR contributor Dick Morris is the author of, among others, Off with Their Heads: Traitors, Crooks & Obstructionists in American Politics, Media & Business" Comment by clicking here.

Up

10/08/03: Barbarians at the gates
10/03/03: Get ready for Iran's drive to be national suicide bomber
10/01/03: Dean's E-reform
09/26/03: An open letter to Karl Rove
09/24/03: Why Clark will fade
09/18/03: Terror fears fade too fast
09/10/03: As Dubya sinks, Al & Hill scheme
08/25/03: Bias-mongers on rocks as viewers taste straight news
08/14/03: Arnold & Dean's political revolution
08/08/03: Hillary Clinton might not want to wait until 2008
08/06/03: Revolution
07/24/03: As Bush falters, watch Hil run
07/21/03: Peace dominoes begin to fall
07/17/03: Let's hear the good news
07/14/03: Sending troops to Liberia could be a bridge too far
07/10/03: McGovern II
07/07/03: French: Toast
07/03/03: At moment of truth, Hillary turns backwards
06/27/03: And now the dominos begin to fall
06/25/03: W's triangulation
06/23/03: Presidents often fall victim to their own success: Some advice for the president
06/18/03: Times not a-changing
06/13/03: Why did Hillary write the book?
06/11/03: Will the Rev go rogue?
06/05/03: Napoleon's maneuvers at Austerlitz have nothing on prez's
06/02/03: Prez's tax-cut catch-22 for Dems
05/29/03: Liberal author documents Clinton's wasted second term
05/16/03: Early Democrat handicapping for 2004
05/14/03: Gephardt: AWOL
04/30/03: Prez can lose
04/25/03: My message to Putin: Call President Bush
04/23/03: NO OIL FOR BLOOD
04/21/03: The war that network news lost in Iraq
04/15/03: Media meltdown
04/10/03: Giving government a good name
04/03/03: Polls' message to Bush: Relax and win the war
03/31/03: Bomb as you need
03/28/03: The strong grow weak through inhibition
03/26/03: Carping pessimism of TV anchors and interviewers fails to give Americans a sense of defeatism
03/17/03: Poll: Get on with it
03/13/03: It's time for U.S. to play hardball at U.N.
03/10/03: The whole (Hispanic) world is watching
03/07/03: Anti-war errors
03/05/03: Domino theory II: Toppling Mideast despots
03/03/03: Europe's triangulators: Chirac and Blair
02/27/03: Invasion? More like a coup
02/21/03: The first casualty of Iraq war: Liberal credibility
02/19/03: Old Europe's last hurrah
02/14/03: Corzine throws down gauntlet on Wall St. fraud
02/12/03: An exile deal for Saddam
02/07/03: The Dems give up the House
02/05/03: France: Saddam's ally
02/03/03: War critics will suffer
02/30/03: Even by Clinton standards, it's sheer chutzpah
01/24/03: Rebirth of the balanced budget Republican
01/22/03: Next to Bubba, Dubya's got it good
01/16/03: End racism in affirmative action
01/13/03: The new swing voter
01/10/03: Political e-mailing comes of age
01/07/03: In Dem race: Home field no advantage
12/31/02: Hey, Hillary: Want to appear like a stateswomyn? Stay silent
12/19/02: Kerry in the lead
12/19/02: Lieberman the frontrunner
12/17/02: In defense of Lott
12/02/02: An issue for Bush: Drugs
11/27/02: Women gone wobbly?
11/25/02: The U.N. over a barrel
11/15/02: Gore's suicide
11/15/02 One-party control is an illusion
11/13/02 The House of Extremes
11/08/02 I have egg on my face
11/01/02 Is Bush losing control over events?
10/25/02What is causing Bush's free fall?
10/25/02: Anybody sense a trend?
10/23/02: A deadline for Iraq
10/18/02: Only sure bet of 2002 elections is voter angst
10/16/02: Endangered incumbents
10/11/02: Why multilateralism doesn't work
10/09/02: Hey, Dems: Believe NYTimes polling at your own risk
10/03/02: Dem suicide: Let's count the ways
09/30/02: The Dems just can't stop themselves
09/26/02: The perils of polling
09/19/02: W. boxed in the U.N.
09/19/02: Welfare reform: Keep on keeping on
09/12/02: Are Dems insane on Iraq?
09/09/02: Twin shadows of Election '02
09/05/02: GOP should triangulate
08/28/02: Trust the military
08/22/02: It's not the economy, stupid
08/09/02: As America unites, Gore goes divisive
08/01/02: Bush must focus on big picture
07/23/02: Election 2002: Advantage Dems
07/19/02: Rudy for SEC tough cop
07/17/02: The investor strike
07/15/02: Door open for drug testing students --- go for it, GOP!
07/12/02: Dubya looking out for No. 1?
07/03/02: The DNA war for Bush's soul
06/21/02: Why are conservatives winning?
06/19/02: Learning to love the feds
06/14/02: Hey, journalists and Dems: Dubya is doing just fine
06/12/02: It's terrorism, stupid!
06/10/02: Sanctions are a potent weapon
06/04/02: Al Qaeda's more dangerous new front
05/31/02: Why '04 looks tough for liberal Dems
05/24/02: Democratic self-destruction
05/22/02: The Clinton failures
05/15/02: Pataki positioned to win
05/08/02: A wakeup-call for American Jewry
05/03/02: Give Bush back his focus
05/01/02: Immigration fault li(n)es
04/25/02: It's the war, stupid
04/17/02: Bush goes small bore
04/12/02: Bush must be a gentle partisan
04/10/02: In defense of polling
04/08/02: Focus on Iraq, not the Palestinians
04/01/02: Only Internet will bring real campaign finance reform
03/27/02: Where W's drawn a line in the sand
03/22/02: Enron scandal will not trigger a wave of economic populism
03/20/02: Term-limited --- by war
03/15/02: Europe doesn't have a clue
03/11/02: Bush popularity = GOP win?
03/01/02: Will America be forced to chase its tail in its war on terrorism?
02/27/02: The Arafat/Saddam equilibrium must be destroyed
02/21/02: Campaign finance reform won't hurt GOPers
02/13/02: Dodd scurries for cover
02/11/02: U.S. 'unilateralism'? The Europeans don't have a case
02/06/02: WAR: What women want
02/01/02: They all talk in the end
01/30/01: The odd couple: Chris Dodd and Arthur Andersen
01/22/01: His father's son? Bush better get an 'Act II' fast!
01/18/01: Dubya & the 'vision thing'
01/14/01: The Rumsfeld Doctrine 01/03/01: A President Gore would have been a disaster
01/03/02: Clinton's priority: Political correctness over fighting terror
12/27/01: Terror network grew out of Clinton's inaction, despite warnings
12/24/01: Call 'em back, George
12/18/01: What Bush did right
12/13/01: Libs worry too much
12/11/01: "Open Sesame": Feinstein's proposed bill allows 100,000 non-immigrant students from anti-American countries to our shores
12/07/01: The non-partisan president
12/05/01: Both parties are phony on stimulus debate
11/29/01: When terrorists can enter legally, it's time to change the laws
11/21/01: Go for the jugular!
11/16/01: You are all incumbents
11/14/01: Clinton's failure to mobilize America to confront foreign terror after the 1993 attack led directly to 9-11 disaster
11/12/01: To the generals: Don't worry about losing support
11/08/01: The death of the white liberal
11/07/01: Our leaders are being transformed in a way unprecedented in post-World War II history

© 2003, Dick Morris