What Would Barbara Do?
Published Oct 13, 2000
While most pollsters and pundits focus on the horse race between George W. Bush and Al Gore they are missing the real race in this election season. Its outcome will determine who sits in the Oval Office on January 20, 2001: The contest for George W. Bush's mind and heart between his two greatest influences, George and Barbara Bush.
Like many children, George W. lurches between each parent, but the outcome of this election will depend on which one's influence is more strongly felt and which internal voice Bush listens to.
One voice, that of his father, whispers softly, "winning isn't everything, the most important thing is to play the game nicely and emerge with lots of friends to add to the Christmas card mailing list."
The other, that of his mother, urges the son to fight hard and win. It's a voice that Bush's opponent has listened to and heeded.
As a child, George Herbert Walker Bush had a nickname that pretty well summed up his political career: "Have Half." It was a nickname Bush earned because he was known to share candy with his friends.
Offering half of what one has at the outset is of course a wonderful characteristic in most cases save two: war and politics. The danger in war is obvious enough, but the danger in politics is equally serious.
The politician who best understood this was Ronald Reagan, who proposed a 30 percent tax cut to a Democratic congress in 1981. Reagan gave not a hint that he was willing to compromise his number, and only at the last minute settled for 25 percent. Had his vice president been in a similar spot, he would most likely have countered with 15 percent and settled for 5 percent. Critics have repeatedly noted George W. Bush's zig zags -- in the early part of the campaign for the Republican nomination when he refused to go on the attack and highlight his opponent's failings and policy mistakes. This was essentially the play book of his father -- the same notion of noblesse oblige that mistakenly led Bush Sr. to conclude that all he had to do in the 1988 campaign was show up. It was only at the urging of men like Roger Ailes and Lee Atwater that Bush reached deep and fought a campaign as one wages war.
In South Carolina on the other hand, George W. reached deep within himself and found his mother's love of a good fight. He waged a tough but fair campaign worthy of the son of the mother who once called her husband's vice presidential opponent in 1984 "a b that rhymes with witch." And that is the same Bush who must emerge if he expects to dislodge a sitting vice president presiding over economic good times.
And so as campaign 2000 hits the home stretch, the question that should be haunting every Bush staffer is a variation of the popular bracelet that millions of American teen-agers sport: What Would Barbara Do?
Would Barbara have hired a Democratic media consultant like Mark McKinnon with deep ties to Clinton insiders like Paul Begala and James Carville?
Would Barbara pass up opportunities to point out sharp differences between herself and her opponent and take it to them as if the future of the Republic depended upon it?
An undecided Bush was reportedly moved to run when Barbara turned to him during a sermon on the calling by God of a reluctant Moses to lead His people out of their captivity. "That's you," she was reported to have told her son. She may need to remind him once more of that conversation.
Americans haven't fought one another with fists and guns for nearly 150 years -- that's because politics has taken the place of war with consultants replacing generals and debates replacing battlefields. Neither politics nor war are activities for the fainthearted and candidate George W. Bush must make his own decision. Does he have the stomach to fight for what he believes in at the risk of being thought unpleasant? Or will he fight for every inch, within the rules of political warfare, and bring his will to bear on the country's future?
The answer may depend on which parent's voice he heeds.
Read our exclusive interview with candidate George W. Bush here.
Like many children, George W. lurches between each parent, but the outcome of this election will depend on which one's influence is more strongly felt and which internal voice Bush listens to.
One voice, that of his father, whispers softly, "winning isn't everything, the most important thing is to play the game nicely and emerge with lots of friends to add to the Christmas card mailing list."
The other, that of his mother, urges the son to fight hard and win. It's a voice that Bush's opponent has listened to and heeded.
As a child, George Herbert Walker Bush had a nickname that pretty well summed up his political career: "Have Half." It was a nickname Bush earned because he was known to share candy with his friends.
Offering half of what one has at the outset is of course a wonderful characteristic in most cases save two: war and politics. The danger in war is obvious enough, but the danger in politics is equally serious.
The politician who best understood this was Ronald Reagan, who proposed a 30 percent tax cut to a Democratic congress in 1981. Reagan gave not a hint that he was willing to compromise his number, and only at the last minute settled for 25 percent. Had his vice president been in a similar spot, he would most likely have countered with 15 percent and settled for 5 percent. Critics have repeatedly noted George W. Bush's zig zags -- in the early part of the campaign for the Republican nomination when he refused to go on the attack and highlight his opponent's failings and policy mistakes. This was essentially the play book of his father -- the same notion of noblesse oblige that mistakenly led Bush Sr. to conclude that all he had to do in the 1988 campaign was show up. It was only at the urging of men like Roger Ailes and Lee Atwater that Bush reached deep and fought a campaign as one wages war.
In South Carolina on the other hand, George W. reached deep within himself and found his mother's love of a good fight. He waged a tough but fair campaign worthy of the son of the mother who once called her husband's vice presidential opponent in 1984 "a b that rhymes with witch." And that is the same Bush who must emerge if he expects to dislodge a sitting vice president presiding over economic good times.
And so as campaign 2000 hits the home stretch, the question that should be haunting every Bush staffer is a variation of the popular bracelet that millions of American teen-agers sport: What Would Barbara Do?
Would Barbara have hired a Democratic media consultant like Mark McKinnon with deep ties to Clinton insiders like Paul Begala and James Carville?
Would Barbara pass up opportunities to point out sharp differences between herself and her opponent and take it to them as if the future of the Republic depended upon it?
An undecided Bush was reportedly moved to run when Barbara turned to him during a sermon on the calling by God of a reluctant Moses to lead His people out of their captivity. "That's you," she was reported to have told her son. She may need to remind him once more of that conversation.
Americans haven't fought one another with fists and guns for nearly 150 years -- that's because politics has taken the place of war with consultants replacing generals and debates replacing battlefields. Neither politics nor war are activities for the fainthearted and candidate George W. Bush must make his own decision. Does he have the stomach to fight for what he believes in at the risk of being thought unpleasant? Or will he fight for every inch, within the rules of political warfare, and bring his will to bear on the country's future?
The answer may depend on which parent's voice he heeds.
Read our exclusive interview with candidate George W. Bush here.
Originally published October 13, 2000.
