Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review April 18, 2001 / 25 Nissan, 5761

Jonah Goldberg

Jonah Goldberg
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Bush brings refreshing silence to presidency

http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- IF Bill Clinton were still president, he'd be in Cincinnati this week, biting his lip, getting misty, making up stories about how much the Cincinnati riots of the 1960s changed his life. He would hug a minister and a distressed mother, telling them he agreed with them completely on everything. Then, he would speak before a room of police, and wave his thumb around and declare that he agreed with them completely on everything, too.

There would be more hugging. And huge vats of unctuous Clintonian concern and earnest Clintonian conviction would be spilled out over the airwaves. The soccer-mom friendly news hostesses of MSNBC would be in hog heaven.

But Bill Clinton is not president. George Bush is. And what was his response to the Cincinnati riots? Total and complete silence. OK, not complete silence. The White House issued a brief statement urging calm and assuring the public that the attorney general was monitoring things. But compared to the sonic booms of pain-feeling during the Clinton years, the Bush response was about as loud as a butterfly landing on a pillow.

Indeed, this was after a string of significant silences. When the U.S. airmen finally returned from China last week, George W. Bush was nowhere to be found, letting the families and crewmen have the limelight. Before that, there was the high school shooting outside San Diego. Bush did not go and play the remorse voluptuary like his predecessor. He simply declared that the shootings were a "disgraceful act of cowardice" that underscored how parents need to "teach their children right from wrong."

Contrast all this with how Clinton staged multiple pep rallies for himself on the day of Bush's inaugural, even reviewing troops after he was no longer commander-in-chief. No wonder The Washington Post recently declared "The Empathetic Presidency is Over."

Of course, Clinton's one-man empathy show was precisely what some people liked about his presidency - and Bush's aloofness is precisely what others despise about his. But for some of us, Bush's attitude is a welcome change not just from Bill Clinton, but from Ronald Reagan as well.

Now, don't get me wrong: I'm still one of those people who think G-d put the Gipper on this planet to chew gum and kick butt - and he ran out of gum a long time ago. But Ronald Reagan was a president for an age when politics was about an ideological battle for the future of the world, and we don't live in such an age anymore. Hence, we don't need another Ronald Reagan, though don't try telling that to the many conservatives who still light votive candles in hope of his return.

Reagan was the greatest Cold War president, believing that the world was faced with a twilight struggle between good and evil. He rejected détente, which had removed morality from foreign policy, and instead emphasized human rights. He spoke bluntly of "evil empires" and fought what he and many of his believers believed was a rising tide of collectivism abroad and at home.

But politics is about moments. And Ronald Reagan was the right man for a certain moment in our history. George Bush may turn out to be the right man for this moment.

The Cold War is over. And despite a stock market that has me downing Maalox by the case, America is prosperous and secure. Even the Democratic Party is relatively reasonable compared to its 1970s and 1980s wackiness. In short, politics matters less. It still matters, of course, but there's simply less for the federal government to do. The era of big government, said Bill Clinton, is over. And Ronald Reagan deserves much of the credit for it.

It is no slight to George Bush to say that he is no Ronald Reagan. Bush often says things like "it is good to cut the taxes," which makes him sound like a Texan Louis XIV. But he certainly could have given a perfectly fine speech on the occasion of the Navy crew's homecoming or the riots or the school shooting.

Instead, as White House press secretary Ari Fleischer explained to The Washington Post, "The president recognizes that from time to time there will be emotional and volatile events; he does not believe that politicians should seek them out and insert themselves in them." Fleischer added, "They should speak out ... but not everywhere, every time."

That's exactly right. And this approach is reminiscent not so much of Reagan, but of Reagan's hero, Calvin Coolidge. Silent Cal, according to the historian Paul Johnson, "was the most internally consistent and single-minded of modern American presidents."

When asked at a March 1, 1929, press conference about his place in history, Coolidge responded: "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration has been minding my own business." It's early yet, but it may turn out that George W. Bush will be able to make a similar boast at the end of his administration.



To comment on JWR contributor Jonah Goldberg's column click here.

Up


04/16/01: In defense of PETA
04/11/01: Decrying hoopla over diversity in newsrooms
04/06/01: Dan Rather tries to dodge the liberal-bias bullet
04/04/01: NOW THEY'VE GONE TOO FAR!
03/30/01: No time to clown around with cloning
03/28/01: Cast a negative ballot for Internet voting
03/23/01: Hollywood's high on action films, for global market success
03/21/01: Republicans should be cautious of 'compassionate conservatism'
03/19/01: "Traffic" moves propaganda into drug-policy debate
03/15/01: Appeal of 'Sopranos' lies in strict code of honor
03/09/01: Organic claims are cleverly written fiction
03/07/01: Snow job: There the media go again
03/02/01: It's a vision thing
02/28/01: SAT is best measure of general aptitude
02/26/01: Easing the estate tax
02/23/01: Clinton defenders finally admit to his power abuses
02/21/01: Failed dot-coms missed rules of the marketplace
02/15/01: Clinton heeds my Harlem advice
02/12/01: Harlem could be Bill's best move yet
02/06/01: Lying, betrayal essential parts of journalism
01/18/01: How to polarize candidates
01/15/01: Dems never tire of using 'race card'
01/11/01: Taking the celebrity out of politics
01/08/01: Unfairly 'borking' Ashcroft
01/04/01: Want to be more efficient? Increase number of politicians
01/02/01: Whole lotta exploitin' goin' on
12/28/00: Hypocrisy police pounce on Clinton book deal
12/26/00: Sometimes, it's good to be a Grinch
12/21/00: Though symbolic, Bush's diversity sends a message
12/19/00: Gore concedes --- but why did it take so long?
12/14/00: Is 'Queer as Folk' what we asked for?
12/11/00: Election mess hardly a 'civics lesson'
12/07/00: Clinton's tacky legacy
12/05/00: Marriage civilizes the manly beast
11/30/00: Gore's speech more pompous posturing
11/28/00: Rabble-rousing Dems act irresponsibly
11/27/00: Duking it out with democracy
11/16/00: Issues irrelevant to most voters
11/14/00: Gore's us-vs.-them campaign
11/10/00: Dot-com disasters missing brand-name success
11/06/00: Conventional wisdom turns with the polls
11/03/00: Clinton photo, appropriately, hits below the belt
11/01/00: Electoral college ensures democracy
10/30/00: New Yorkers, media letting Hillary off the hook
10/23/00: Gore needs to put first things first
10/20/00: Treatment of Farrakhan glosses over odd issues
10/16/00: Secrets of election can be found in 'Star Trek'
10/12/00: Arafat hardly 'provoked' into violence
10/10/00: Undecided voters may be ignorant, not discriminating
10/06/00: The importance of character isn't debatable
10/03/00: Conservatives are the true friends of science You know why?
09/29/00: Symbolic 'born alive' vote makes sense
09/25/00: Conservatives adopt abandoned liberalism
09/21/00: Ventura's media backpedaling makes fiction of his new book
09/18/00: Tough questions target Hillary Clinton's elitism
09/14/00: Hollywood morality to blame
09/11/00: Specifically, AlGore's detailed plan is meaningless
09/07/00: Time-honored tradition: Insult the press
09/05/00: Scouting out justice
08/30/00: The ADL's historical revisionism
08/28/00: Sitcoms will survive, post-"Survivor"
08/24/00: Candidates' choice of movies shows refreshing honesty
08/21/00: An AlGore victory? Only if dead birds fly
08/17/00: AlGore is doomed, but Dems ignore warning signs
08/15/00: Proud and true: He's a Jew
08/10/00: Exploiting religion would be tragic mistake
08/08/00: Cheney serves up tempting appetizer
08/03/00: Republicans now 'nice,' media still nasty
08/01/00: Presidential campaign could use some anti-metric mania
07/27/00: Government shouldn't subsidize Reform Party
07/25/00: Campaign finance 'reform' gives too much power to liberal media
07/20/00: Hillary slur speaks volumes
07/18/00: AlGore's McCarthyism
07/11/00: 'Survivor' shows hypocrisy of animal rights groups
07/05/00: McDonald's deserves a break today
07/03/00: On July Fourth, time to reflect on America's founding
06/28/00: America bashing becomes international pastime
06/23/00: If Fonda is sorry, let her say so
06/06/00: NAPSTER exposes artists' hypocrisy
04/18/00: Not much difference between TV journalists, TV actors

© 2000, TMS