Mullings: An American Cyber-column By Rich Galen

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Fighting Through Adversity

Rich Galen

Friday October 28, 2005

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There's Hurricanes in Florida, there's strife in Iran. What nature doesn't do to us. Will be done by our fellow man.

Done? Good. Thanks.

By the time you read this there might well be news regarding the CIA leak investigation, but this is being written on Thursday night so we're going with what we know.

The Harriet Meirs thing was not pretty. It reminded me, a little, of the Dan Quayle thing.

In 1988 only one person thought US Senator Dan Quayle was a good choice for the Vice Presidential Nominee. And that person was the Presidential nominee, George H.W. Bush.

In 2006 only one person thought that White House Counsel to the President Harriet Miers was a good choice to be an Associate Justice to the Supreme Court of the United States. And that person was the President of the United States, George W. Bush.

Both men chose good people. Neither choice turned out very well.

I have known President Bush since 1979 when I was the press secretary for a candidate for US Senate in Iowa and he was helping his dad run for the Republican nomination for President against Ronald Reagan.

In Iowa, in the winter, during a Presidential year, everyone goes to everything. So George W. and I occasionally ended up in the same place at the same time. Twelve years later we ended up in Dallas at the same time. Ten years after that we ended up in Washington at the same time.

Over more than a quarter of a century, I have learned one thing about George W. Bush: He has never backed away from a fight. And he's not going to back away from this one.

If I had been at the White House yesterday (which I was not) here's what I would have put on the table:

The edges of the two political parties have gotten farther and farther apart.
Let us presume that, as of late 2005, 15% of the American population proudly identifies itself as the hard right wing of the Republican party; and 15% just as proudly identifies itself as the hard left wing of the Democratic party.
That leaves 70% of the American population somewhere in the moderate wing of one party or the other, or as truly independent.
And, we know from a substantial amount of polling, a majority of that 70% is slightly to the right of center. We are a moderately conservative nation.
If I were advising the President (which I am not) I would advise him to pick a nominee to the Supreme Court which reflected the majority of American thought - someone who is slightly to the right of Center.
As he announced that choice, I would advise him to say that he was, indeed, committing himself to the realignment of the American political landscape and that landscape was neither hard Right nor hard Left.
It tilts to the right-of-center.
If the Chuck Schumers and the Sam Brownbacks of the US Senate didn't like it, I would advise him to challenge them to run for President in 2008 and see how many Americans agree with them.
I would throw the gauntlet down before the intellectual elites of the Right and the Left and say, "I think I know my constituents. If you disagree, that's fine. I'll see you on November 7, 2006 - the date of the mid-term elections - and we'll see who is correct. In politics only winning counts. And I think I can count better than you can."
Harriet Miers did the honorable thing by taking herself out of contention for a seat on the US Supreme Court. More's the pity.
If I were writing the Constitution today (which I most assuredly am not), I would demand that Article III - the one dealing with the Judiciary - contained a requirement that the Supreme Court could have no more than five members who were lawyers. The other four seats would have to go to a person who farmed, one who worked on an assembly line, one who ran a small business, and one who was a public school teacher.

George W. Bush is a fighter. He will fight his way through this week and through the next three years of his Administration.

Anyone who thinks he is going to sit in the Oval Office an sulk is missing the essential nature of a very good man.

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On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: What that "hurricane in Florida" business is all about. A pretty good Mullfoto, and a Catchy Caption of the Day.

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