Bush confides secret
of political success
By Chip Drago
Mobile Bay Times
George Bush stumbled in his first try for public office, losing a 1978 bid for Congress. But by 1994, his campaign skills sharpened, Bush was elected governor of Texas, won the presidency in 2000 and held on to it in 2004.
So what had Bush learned? What was the secret to his electoral success?
"It's simple," Bush told his biographer Fred Barnes. "You can fool some of the people all of the time ... and I concentrate on them."
That was just one example of Bush's sense of humor, Barnes told an audience of 600 supporters of the Alabama Policy Institute in attendance at the Mobile Convention Center here Thursday night for "An Evening With Fred Barnes."
Author of the recently published Bush biography Rebel In Chief, Barnes said Bush is truly funny.
A veteran political journalist and conservative commentator, Barnes said putative GOP nominee John McCain, too, has a good sense of humor, perhaps better than any of the candidates still standing.
Given up for dead last summer, the McCain campaign saw an exodus of politicos whose livelihoods and egos hinge on their association with victory and the perception of their proximity to power and influence. The stench of death in the air around McCain, they paid their respects, made their excuses and hit the door in search of a winner. Now that McCain is arisen from the political grave, many are scuttling back.
Are they welcomed with open arms? McCain was asked.
"Yes, of course, they are ... after a little waterboarding," said McCain.
Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama has flashs of humor. The trailing Hillary Clinton's sense of humor is a rumor -- the Loch Ness monster of American politics, occasional sketchy reports of sightings over the years, but little convincing evidence to confirm its existence.
Given the two Democratic contenders' near identical positions on the issues, Obama's warmth may prove the difference in his claiming the Democratic nomination over Clinton, said Barnes.
Barnes suggested that Obama's grace under fire and imperturbability were reminiscent of Ronald Reagan and that his easy manner might well carry him past Clinton to one of the most remarkable political upsets in history.
The presidential election this year will offer the country the starkest choice and the widest divide in political philosophy since 1976 when Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford, Barnes said. The economy, foreign policy, almost any way you want to cut it, there will be little gray area between the nominees, he said.
For all the recent gloom about the U.S. economy and American society in general, the evidence of decline is just not there, said Barnes, using Mobile's economic activity as an example among much statistical data to support his point.
Another case of conflict between perception and reality may evolve over time in the assessment of the Bush presidency, said Barnes.
Bush will leave the arena to hisses, but history will likely cheer him, according to Barnes who headlined the annual API fundraiser.
Perhaps like the long unappreciated Harry Truman, Bush may well rise in stature over time, if Iraq -- with the world's second largest oil reserves --emerges as an anchor democracy stabilizing the Middle East. Bush's legacy, his place in history resides in the future of Iraq, said Barnes.
Sometimes irreconcilable conflict can occur within a political party itself, Barnes noted.
Barnes related a story told to him and his daughter by the now deceased former Illinois congressman Henry Hyde, who Barnes much admired for his unyielding opposition to abortion.
Hyde and U.S. Rep. Millicent Fenwick -- an ardent feminist and militant supporter of legal abortion, who nevertheless was, like Hyde, a Republican -- used to engage in lacerating debates over abortion on the House floor. Finally, one afternoon after another of their epic verbal slugfests, Hyde sunk to the floor when the House adjourned and just sat there, drained, while his colleagues made their way out of the chamber. Fenwick approached him, pleading for the good of the country and their party that they must cease their bitter exchanges, that Hyde should give some ground on the issue so the pillorying of each other could end.
Hyde said, "Never, not an inch," and told her a story that he had never before told anyone in Washington.
"I can never give in," Hyde said. "I'm sure you don't know this. Very few do. I was a foundling. My mother was unmarried when I was born. When I was about a month old she wrapped me in a blanket inside a basket and placed me on a family's doorstep. Those people took me in and raised me. So you see, I can never give in on this."
Dumbstruck, Fenwick said nothing, turned and walked away. They never again publicly or privately argued over abortion.
"Of course, it wasn't true," Hyde told Barnes and his daughter. "I made it up on the spot. But it was for a good cause and I've never regretted it, not for a single day."
Barnes also related an anecdote from a bachelor party for John McLaughlin, the political talk show host and former Jesuit priest who, at 70, with a bad marriage behind him, was marrying a woman half his age.
Everyone toasted the groom, but none better than U.S. News & World Report's Mort Zuckerman who assured McLaughlin that the world would long recall his words after those of Shakespeare had been forgotten ... "but not until then."
The same could be said of his remarks this evening, Barnes concluded.
All the proceeds from the event go to fund API, a non-partisan, non-profit, research and educational institute or "think tank" dedicated to influencing public policy. It endeavors to identify, develop and promote innovative policy ideas, and provide "fact-based, objective analysis of key issues," according to its executive director Gary Palmer.
Barnes said such think tanks were proliferating all over the country and that API was among "the best of its kind."
A final accounting on the financial success of the event is still two or three weeks away, according to Sandy Stimpson who served as master of ceremonies.
