Bush went on the re-election stump as if being president once was good enough. He had ticked off living in the White House on his bucket list, and fighting to stay there seemed an unnecessary chore.
He had a perfectly good home in Kennebunkport. He felt entitled to win a second time, but was not prepared to put himself out. It was little surprise when he failed to be re-elected. The same sense of expectant, unruffled arrogance hung over Al Gore. Instead of shouting and screaming, however, Gore hired lawyers, sat back and let the Supreme Court roll over him.
The same could be said of John Kerry, a former military hero who ran at a time when America was fighting two foreign wars. If anyone was qualified to be commander in chief, he was. He had a chestful of medals and had volunteered not only to lead men into battle against creeping communism in Vietnam but to go back for a second tour of duty. Against him was a president who defended America from the safety of the Texas National Guard and a warmongering vice-president who dodged fighting the good fight with the help of five deferments.
The nerve! When the Swift Boat veterans swiftboated him, Kerry should have come out all guns blazing. How dare they impugn his honor?
He didn't create it. A business genius he is not. Romney voted to convict the president. His fellow Republicans voted to convict themselves. Mitt Romney Politics. More From Windsor Mann. Read All. Trump is crashing and burning. Bolton shockingly reveals everything we already knew about Trump. Trump's lethal aversion to reading. The president is unwell. Biden owes his core voters student loan forgiveness. Michael Arceneaux. Joel Mathis. Trump reveals he has an 'envoy ambassador'.
Most Popular. Adorable rare leopard cub makes her debut at Santa Barbara Zoo. At this rate, Romney is shaping up to be the most unpopular presidential nominee on record.
Why is this? Why is an essentially bland, scandal-free figure so unpopular? The main reason, I suspect, is that the Republican Party is extremely unpopular. The Bush years deeply discredited the GOP , and while Republicans were able to make gains in by default, as the out party during an economic crisis, they did nothing to rehabilitate their image.
Indeed, they have embraced even more unpopular positions than the ones that George W. Bush advocated. What else? Romney has come to be defined by his wealth to some degree.
George W. Bush presented himself as a compassionate conservative. Bill Clinton was a New i. Romney has not done this at all. Finally, there may be a way in which the lack of enthusiasm even among his supporters creates a kind of general downdraft.
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