European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 13, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday november 13, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary George will democrats should t misjudge Wofford s win six Days after the government announced that by late summer one in 10 americans a a record a was on food Stamps pennsylvanians emphatically declined to make Richard Thornburgh formerly among other things head of president Bush a Domestic policy Council one of their senators. On election Day before Bush suddenly discovered that his trip to Asia was not after All urgent he Grump ily complained a Are you ready for this a that Harris Wofford had used negative ads. Bush did not Blush. Amazing. Wofford had said a nov. 5 is going to be the first Day of the end of the Bush maybe. But democrats have almost perfected negative infallibility everything they think is exactly wrong. They May so utterly misconstrue Wofford a win that it becomes More a menace than a Benefit. The first real lesson is banal ideas beat resumes every time. Thornburgh former governor twice and . Attorney general actually bragged about being at Home in Washington so corridors of voters want to erect guillotines in those corridors Thornburgh ran partly As Bush a surrogate partly As Spike Lee his ads closed with the words a do the right thing. Vote for Good grief. Bush gave Wofford a boost by visiting Pennsylvania three times in eight weeks thereby helping nationalize the election making it a referendum on the nations trajectory which most americans think is Down. Bush thinks it is a Good time to buy a House but it will take an unusual democratic candidate and an unprecedented Sunburst of sanity in the party a nominating constituency to mine the seam of unrest that Wofford struck. The democratic party is pre eminently the party of government the party that for six decades has encouraged the centralizing tendencies that have made Washington what it is. But Wofford a real hero of the civil rights movement when George Wallace was standing in the schoolhouse door ran the most effective anti Washington Campaign since. Wallace. He gave to Charity the pay raise Congress voted itself in the dead of night. He endorsed term limits for Congress. He said the free medical care Congress provides itself should be abolished until there is National health care. Wednesday while Wofford was still happily combing the confetti from his hair in Many democratic Heads there were dancing visions of the ultimate sugarplum Mario Cuomo. Would Wofford a proof How often must the obvious be proven of the salience of Domestic issues entice Cuomo into running in 1968, Eugene Mccarthy an intellectual Catholic shocked Lyndon Johnson in the new Hampshire primary. Instantly the nations Best known Democrat new York sen. Robert Kennedy moved to ride the tide Mccarthy had discovered. Wofford an intellectual Catholic Mav precipitate a decision by the nation s Best known Democrat new York s governor. But even disregarding Cuomo a vulnerabilities a his mercurial temperament his association with the debris that is new York a there is this inconvenience Cuomo cannot run As president of Pennsylvania or of a coalition of states enduring Industrial decline. He Mav not be precisely the candidate wanted out there where More and More voters live in the South and West. Four years ago a Southern state s democratic chairman said a a we done to have Many Marios Down one of Wofford s advantages was being so unknown he could create a Persona convenient to this Campaign season. Cuomo can to. A cautionary thought Cuomo sentry in to the 1992 race is As hotly anticipated As was Ted Kennedy s entry into the 1980 race and it is advocated by Many of the people who incited Kennedy s candidacy. The Day before Pennsylvania voted Nebraska sen Bob Kerrey an actual rather than hypothetical candidate said some things that Bush should find More unnerving than what Pennsylvania voters said. Drawing upon history in ways that should stir any democrats who know their parly s history Kerrey said Quot Jefferson s election in 1800 ended. Federalist provincialism and inaugurated Continental exploration. Jackson s election in is28 signalled the rising of the common Man against a monies aristocracy. Franklin d. Roosevelt selection in 1932 heralded a new relationship of the citizen to the Central government. Now another new Era is dawning. Not since the new Deal have we examined the relevance of our National government. We must begin by cleaning House Here in Wofford promised to prune the Federal Behemoth his word that Quot has become either irrelevant or an he endorsed halving the number of Cabinet positions Reagan increased the cutting non entitlement expenditures 25 percent in a decade cutting by 75 percent the number of congressional committees and subcommittees and cutting congressional staffs by 30 percent All of which would help pay for a National health care program. In the afterglow of Wofford s win. Democrats w ill be forgiven for believing prematurely that for them it is at last morning in America. But their gaze should follow the path of the pioneers across the alleghenies. Nebraska not new York May be their Empire state. C Washington Post writers group David broke rising tide of economic reality burying Bush president Bush is learning the truth of the old adage a when the Economy goes wrong everything goes the sour defensive tone of his last news conference is the Mirror image of the edgy apprehensive tone of the Washington voters in be been interviewing in California. While Bush busied himself in Madrid with resolving ancient enmities in the Middle East the residents of san Bernardino county calif., which Bush carried handily in 1988, stewed about the loss of jobs the Rise of crime and the influx of drug gangs. Their dislike for politicians in general does not exempt Bush. His International achievements count for Little in their reckoning. The fall of the Berlin Wall the peaceful liberation of Eastern Europe the end of the cold War the renunciation of communism in the soviet Union and even the lightning Victory by a .-led International coalition Over iraqi aggressors in Kuwait might As Well not have happened so rarely Are they raised spontaneously by voters. In four Days of door knocking hereabouts i did not hear one person mention Bush a achievement of finally getting the antagonists in the Arab israeli struggle into the same conference Hall. All that is buried under a rising tide of economic apprehension. Rockwell International corp. Recently held its first a Job fair for 300 employees of its California Plant Laid off the previous week because Bush cancelled the Mobile my missile project. The san Bernardino Sun Story quoted Veteran engineers As saying they were a a unprepared and a a shocked by the suddenness of their dismissals. A i just bought a House in twin peaks a said Steve Kimball. A i Haven to even made a payment the Prospect of their finding other jobs in the shrinking defense Industry company officials said is dim. Even for those still working the headlines on local Newsstands last week sounded a drum Roll of deepening concern a construction decline heightens a Home sales faltering locally Quot state Home sales fall for fourth a office Boom goes a Economy a absolutely a a factory orders Tumble unemployment claims a budget shortfall of $3 billion faced by All this in five Days. A the most recent Washington Post Abc news poll makes the link Between the economic Clouds and Bush a political defensiveness. In a trial heat against an Anonymous democratic opponent Bush led 3-1 among those who thought the Economy was holding steady or improving. But he was beaten 2-1 among those who said it was getting worse. And unfortunately for him the number of those feeling gloomy about the Economy grew from 41 percent to 56 percent just Between september and october. The numbers would probably look worse for Bush except for the fact that voters have such a dim View of the democrats As an alternative. What the american people need least at this to we figure he been Frozen in there for Over 1,000 Days mint is evidence that Washington docs not know whal to do about the situation. And unfortunately that s just what they got from Bush a last press conference before he headed overseas. With his economic advisers quarrelling among themselves Over the Best course Bush confessed he is puzzled by whal it do. A Kwh air a needed what will help i m trying to sort that through. A Bush said he had offered stimulus suggestions notably a capital gains lax Cut Long ago hut seemed reluctant to endorse other measures a including a Middle income tax Cut a that might pump More juice into the lagging Economy. Bush said he did not want to break the 1990 budget agreement and unleash a flood of new spending. Quot let s he sure whal we do helps a he said plaintively. Blsir has reason to he nervous. A year ago when he swallowed his a no new taxes Quot Campaign pledge and agreed to a budget Deal with Congress his economic advisers told him that was the Way to assure that the then starting recession would be Over Well before his re election year. And that was vital for As Bush Well remembered the 1982 recession dragged president Reagan a approval ratings Down to a scary 41 percent before recovery set the stage for his landslide re election. The 1990 budget Deal has allowed the Federal Reserve Board to lower interest rates time and again but that has not revived the Economy a As textbook economies says it should. Barbara Greer a California realtor said Quot we be got k1 percent interest a perfect Lime for buyers who could t qualify before but people Are just seared to death of whal might happen next so they re not the suspicion is growing that this is no Ordinary recession a a cyclical downturn which will in time cure itself a but the legacy of a decade of reckless and self indulgent economic policy. In the current economic climate there a a real Sling when the la s Angeles times puts on its front Page a Story by Tokyo correspondent Leslie Helm reporting a widespread japanese a contempt Lor America Quot and its economic performance. One Tif the japanese Helm interviewed said the United states was lated to revert to the status of an a agrarian Power a a giant version of that s where san Bernardino began when this was All Arm land. It sure does no to want to go Back. Pusl writers group
