0008050141
DETROIT FREE PRESS
000806
Sunday, August 06, 2000
METRO FINAL
1E
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 2000, Detroit Free Press
BUSH IN 2000 SOUNDS LIKE CLINTON IN '92
Normally, I am depressed by America's fascination with TV ratings. But in the
case of the now completed Republican convention, the ratings were instructive.
Because they stank.
Few people cared. Few people watched. Ratings plummeted when the convention
came on. People turned to reruns of "Third Watch" rather than see the live
"drama" of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
In a few weeks, Al Gore and the Democrats will also drop the thermometer to
near-comatose.
There's a reason for this. Americans know fiction when they see it. And as
long as they're going to watch fiction, they might as well see car chases.
Does anyone really believe anything a politician says at a convention anymore?
Did anyone really believe that throwing Colin Powell onstage Monday night and
putting J.C. Watts, a black congressman from Oklahoma, out there every chance
they got really made the Republicans a party of inclusion?
Did anyone really believe Cheney's declaration: "They will make accusations,
we will make proposals" -- when he made no real proposals and, later in that
same speech, made all kinds of accusations?
Did anyone really buy George W. Bush when he accused Clinton of "so much
promise, to no great purpose" when Bush himself has been characterized as a
rich-kid slacker who got into politics only 6 years ago?
A frequent pause for applause
Americans are not dumb. They smell a snow job. Yet politicians continue to
believe in the art of the possible, that anything can be done if you spin it
right.
"It is time for a change! America deserves the best! Let's get back to the
values we've forgotten!"
Does all that sound familiar? That's because we hear it, from both sides,
every 4 years. It's to the point where you could literally exchange speeches
-- switch Democrats and Republicans -- and hardly tell one from the other.
To prove this, I went back to Bill Clinton's speech from the 1992 Democratic
convention and compared it to the one Bush made Thursday.
Notice any similarities? ...
Thanks, Mom and Dad
CLINTON, '92: "It all started with my mother. Thank you, Mother. I love you."
BUSH, '00: "And I want to thank my father, the most decent man I have ever
known.... "
CLINTON, '92: "George Bush, if you won't use your power to help America, step
aside. I will."
BUSH, '00: "This administration had its chance. They have not led. We will."
CLINTON, '92: "This week, at a town meeting, a young man said, 'Bill, why
should I trust you?' "
BUSH, '00: "A couple of years ago, I visited a juvenile jail.... A 15-year-old
said, 'What do you think of me?' "
CLINTON, '92: " In Arkansas ...our schools are better, our wages are higher,
our factories are busier and our budget is balanced."
BUSH, '00: In Texas, "we improved our schools ...we moved people from welfare
to work ...our budgets have been balanced.... "
CLINTON, '92: "The night our daughter Chelsea was born ...I was overcome with
the thought that God had given me a blessing.... "
BUSH, '00: "So many of us have held our first child and saw a better self
reflected in her eyes.... "
CLINTON, '92: "Where there is no vision, the people perish."
BUSH, '00: "Our nation today needs vision."
CLINTON, '92: "We offer our people a new choice."
BUSH, '00: "America is ready for a new beginning."
Eerie, isn't it? But not surprising. The fact is, politics today is less about
leadership than it is about winning -- and then paying back those you owe. And
even the best-intentioned presidents are often thwarted by a bitterly divided
Congress.
So once every 4 years, we are told it's time for new ideals, new values, new
vision.
No wonder people watch reruns. All that new stuff can get pretty old.
Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581.
THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE PRINTED ARTICLE.
COLUMN;REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION