Bush hopes to beat second-term jinx

[wildflower]

Bush hopes to beat second-term jinx

BY DICK POLMAN

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT) - When George W. Bush takes the oath at his inauguration Thursday, he will arguably face his toughest political challenge: defying the second-term jinx that has plagued every reelected U.S. president since 1919.

From Woodrow Wilson to Bill Clinton, second-term agendas have been undercut by scandal, emboldened opposition and presidential hubris. Bush wants to beat those odds - and that's only half the battle he has chosen to fight: He also wants to cement a majority Republican electorate, and complete the conservative revolution that began 40 years ago.

snip

Yet many skeptics, schooled by history, insist that Bush is mistaken in his belief that he has won a mandate and will overreach, as did his predecessors. Wilson sought to pull America into the League of Nations, but failed. Franklin D. Roosevelt tried to enlarge the Supreme Court and pack it with allies, but failed - and that was after a reelection landslide that dwarfed Bush's 2004 achievement.

Richard Shenkman, who runs the online History News Network and recently wrote a book on presidential ambition, said: "A reelected president is always prone to hubris, and this one is no different. The guy's got such a big head that he thinks, `Now I can reach for the stars and the history books.' He's overly ambitious and overly optimistic about what he can realistically achieve."

snip

the rest (a good read) is at:

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/nation/10655318.htm

[Thurston Howell IV]

1. He is set up for a great fall

At least there is some solace in that.

[MIScott87]

2. Well, FOX NEWS can help him out there. nt

[zann725]

18. Even Faux News won't be able to...arrogant though they are.

Since Fate IS Fate. Alas...

[PROGRESSIVE1]

22. The morning shows today were just awful.

Russert was licking Bushitler's crotch.

:puke:

[Mad_Dem_X]

23. Thanks for that mental picture - UGH!

:puke:

[rox63]

3. He'll be looked back on as

the first American Despot of the 21st century.

[NYC]

6. I'm sure he will.

The history books will not be kind to him. (Nor should they be.)

[yurbud]

8. hopefully the only

and definitely the worst president ever without even a distant second.

[coloradodem2005]

4. Good luck Georgie.

You have more hubris than any of your predecessors.

[Pegleg Thd]

5. The sooner he falls

the better off we all will be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[daleo]

7. The media is on his side

Without media pressure, it is hard to say what can create the "second term jinx". Clinton's jinx was entirely the creation of the media for example.

I suppose the kind of foreign policy disaster that the U.S. media just cannot whitewash, or domestic financial collapse of the same type would qualify. Both of these are possible with Bush, although disasters don't usually happen in such well defined ways.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. Oh, how I laughed.

Bush, these are the "goes around" years.

[coloradodem2005]

10. as in what goes around comes around?

n/t

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. No. As in "what comes around, goes around"

[Straight Shooter]

11. Can a jinx be jinxed?

bush is the jinx. Can he be jinxed?

Doesn't matter. Little Boots is going down, and he's once again engaging in his "magical thinking" that if he says it's so, it must be so.

[pinniped]

12. Ya, good thing the piece of shit is saving the scandal for the second...

stolen term.:eyes:

Who the hell writes this shit?

[jdj]

14. They're explaining it away before it occurs to the general public

Bush just threw our soldiers' lives away for nothing.

"Ooops, it's just that jinx thing."

[CBHagman]

13. There are so many things the article doesn't even get into...

For example, there are bound to be painful budget cuts this time out, plus rising deficits and debt. Housing is increasingly unaffordable, and Americans are in debt up to their ears. The dollar is weak. Loss of jobs to other nations will probably continue.

Even more troubling, Bush has not dealt effectively with the issue of terrorism. On the contrary, he has created more enemies around the world, thus virtually ensuring the deaths of many more innocent people in terrorist attacks. What I keep hearing again and again is that more attacks are inevitable.

All in all, the immediate future looks extremely painful, no matter how often Bush proclaims his optimism.

Another factor is the administration's secrecy. Admittedly, thanks to a largely cowed press, Bush has gotten away with such a low level of accountability (Undoing the post-Watergate reforms? Holding fewer prss conferences than any recent president?) that Richard Nixon must be green with envy, wherever he is.

If Bush comes out of this with anything solid, it'll be only dumb luck and rigid control of the press that brings it. Basically, the signs are very disturbing as things stand.

If it were only that Bush would get his comeuppance, this wouldn't disturb me as much. But the world and the U.S. specifically will pay, in horrific terms. That's the saddest part of a second Bush term.

[intheflow]

15. Oh yeah, he's already off with a bang.

CIA publicly criticizes his war, he's recalling elderly vets to active service, even Repugs are getting sick of his SS BS, he's putting a torture proponent in the highest legal office in the land, and 20% of the population believes he's in power illegitamately. Yeah, he's off to a barking start to break the jinx. :eyes:

[GetTheRightVote]

16. When he falls I hope falls right into the hell he deserves after killing

so many of our own country men/women. I hate him for the lost of their lives if for no other reason this is enough for me to want to spit in his face. I can not stomach half the people in this nation for letting this jack a** kill off our young people behind a bunch of lies. He sould go down for this reason though there are so many more to add to it.

:kick:

[Bouncy Ball]

17. I've already noticed his statements

have become much bolder (and I don't mean that in a good way) since the selection.

He WILL overreach. He already has.

[paulie5]

19. ooo

Humpty Bushie
Sat on a wall
Humpty Buhsie
Had a great fall.
All the Bushie's horseman
and all the men
Couldn't put Humpty Bushie together again.

Now it's just a question of when.

P5

[SammyWinstonJack]

21. Arrogance, Complete Arrogance.

He really thinks he's King of the World and Master of all he surveys. I hope he falls hard when/if it finally happens. Couldn't happen to a more deserving jerk.

[Mad_Dem_X]

24. I am eagerly awaiting his downfall

It can't be soon enough, after all the people who have died because of him and his corrupt administration.

[oneold1-4u]

25. 1/2 and 1/2

Half the US is frightned of this man who thinks he was elected!
Half the world wonders what and when half of the US will stop him!