The American public are becoming nervous over the economy. US stocks are falling in the face of the subprime mortgage mess and raising oil prices. Now economists are worried about inflation.
Things are looking ugly. For those who have been paying attention, it has been getting ugly for some time.
I recently read the following in Congressional Quarterly’s Guide To U.S. Elections. It is about the 1868 election of Republican Ulysses Grant (photo above) over Democrat Horatio Seymour of New York–
” With Grant’s ascension to the presidency in 1869, the Republican Party entered a new era—what the German sociologist Max Weber would have called a shift from “charismatic” to “rational” institutional authority. In other words, the party shifted its devotion from a great moral cause to its own survival as an organization. It had begun as a coalition of activists fervently opposed to the expansion of slavery (many opposed slavery itself) and to the rebellion of Southern states from the Union, The Republicans 1868 victory under Grant was the first not dominated wholly by crisis conditions.
Reading this got me thinking about Republican success in the elections of 2002 and 2004. Those elections, especially 2002 when Republicans won back the Senate, seemed to be run under the shadow of the events of September 11, 2001.
Mitt Romney avoids being called a 3-time loser. This was a huge win for Romney. If you can’t win in a state where your father was a popular governor then you are sunk.
An interesting side story is John McCain. He didn’t campaign in Michigan until very late but yet he still came in a strong second. He is looking stronger and stronger as a viable Republican front runner. Mike Huckabee focused his energy on South Carolina. Rudy Giuliani is basically banking on winning in Florida so he skipped Michigan. (I’m sure that I should insert a Fred Thompson and didn’t have the energy to really campaign in this spot but I’ll refrain.)
I’ll have a ton on the democratic debate tomorrow.
Errington C. Thompson, MD, is a surgeon, scholar, fulltime sports fan and part-time political activist. He is active in a number of community projects and initiatives. Through medicine, he strives to improve the physical health of all he treats...
