These periodic ramblings are written, produced and directed by Ronald Dale Karr, University of Massachusetts Lowell. Obviously, the opinions expressed here are my own, not those of the University.
With his signing of the Dole-Gingrich Welfare Reform Act Bill Clinton has made himself unbeatable. Clinton is unique among American Presidents, the first to lack any discernible fixed convictions or principles. Aside from a commitment to corporate capitalism it is hard to find anything on which he is not prepared to compromise or give away entirely. Clinton is ultimate political rubber man, ready to assume any posture the public (and his corporate sponsors) demands. Political expectations are at a new low. We expect very little of our politicians, and here Clinton delivers. How else can you explain the popularity of a President who cannot point to a single significant accomplishment in four years in office? At least Reagan gave the rich tax cuts and Bush invaded two countries.For all practical purposes, Clinton has become a Rockefeller Republican, a sign of how very conservative a nation we’ve become. Thirty years ago, who would have thought a Democratic President would champion an anti-labor trade bill, the death penalty, cuts in welfare, and be calling for the government to do less? FDR and LBJ must be flipping in their graves. But Clinton is giving the public what it wants, or at least what the corporate media tells it it wants.
Pity poor Bob Dole. Clinton has moved so far to the right as to be on top of him, leaving Dole nowhere to go except even further rightward, into the arms of the militias, klans, anti-abortion fanatics, etc., whose popularity is even less than his. Old Beltway Bob has a major personality problem: most people find him a bit scary, eerily reminiscent of Nixon. (Solution: grow a beard, maybe look Lincolnesque, or even like Santa Claus). And campaign issues are nonexistent. With political conventions now four-night informercials, its not surprising the campaign is generating little excitement, and it seems unlikely the fall will be any livelier. Look for electoral turnout to reach an all-time low. Unless the public becomes VERY disenchanted with Clinton, Dole faces the fate of Goldwater, McGovern, and Mondale.
Perot will have difficulty taking votes away from anyone but himself. Most of his ‘92 supporters have drifted away, and he’ll be hard pressed to get them back. A lot of them, I suspect, will follow the lead of Buchanan supporters and boycott the balloting altogether.
Not since the 1920s or perhaps the 1890s has the left had so little influence or been so irrelevant to American electoral politics.
is the one arena where liberals may slowly climb back to power. Amazingly, the Newt is wildly unpopular. The GOP feeding frenzy in early ‘95 was too much even for the jaded U.S. public. But as long as campaign finance remains unregulated the need for corporate cash will hamper the rise of popular local liberal/progressive politicians.