Let's talk about "Political Capitol"

[ewagner]

I wasn't surprised that Bush* knew this phrase but I was surprised that he was dumb enough to mention it publicly. He is, however, correct. His (alleged) victory will give him a certain amount of slack with the American public so that he can push through some of his favorite measures.

Having said that, it must also be said that "political capitol" is not infinite and very, very perishable.

The trick for the Democratic party, I think, is to force Dubya to squander the capitol so much that he actually becomes a liability to his own party. That is, force him to defend his initiatives at every turn. Force him to call upon "the will of the people" for every right-wing, extreme position he tries to take.

The Democrats are holding the Cool Hand Luke hand here....that is, sometimes no hand is the best hand to have. We have nothing to lose.

[xultar]

1. Dems are still Shell Shocked. I don't think they will be able to regroup

in time to play this game effectively.

[aden_nak]

3. Yeah. The problem is that they get Shell Shocked every four years.

[Richardo]

2. One guy on Marketplace pointed out what every MBA *should* know...

...you don't SPEND your capital - you INVEST it. Anyone who SPENDS their capital is on the short road to bankruptcy.

In that light, it's a pretty telling quote from alleged MBA Bush, innit?

[aden_nak]

4. Wow, excellent point. That's a Talking Point we need to push.

No wonder the economy is doing so poorly, if that's how George Bush wields capital.

[ewagner]

6. Yep!

If you look at his business record, he squanders capitol regularly...leaves a bankrupt mess behind....I think he will do the same with his political capitol.

[JudyM]

8. Great point. Got it? Don't got it? Spend it anyway.

[kentuck]

5. That would be "capital" ?

Your posts are some of the most thoughtful, ewagner...

peace

[ewagner]

7. I get confused

when I'm writing quickly.........sorry

[Walt Starr]

9. Look at it this way, he expended political capital mentioning the fact

that he has newly minted political capital.

He was sending a message. It was a shot across our bow. We can whimper and whine about it or we can turn it to our advantage.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the press, the Senate Demcrats are unable to compete with the political capital of George W. Bush on this nomination of John Ashcroft for Supreme Court Justice, thus there will be no filibuster. Those Democrats who feel this nomination should go through will vote in favor of it. The rest of us will abstain in the interest of national unity during a time of war."

Use his strengths against him and we win in the long term.

[ewagner]

10. Yes....

something similar to what I was trying to convey.

[Strawman]

11. Faith based political capital

He might have some political capital for a month or so. Maybe enough to get Gonzalez in as Atty. General without a fight. However, he certainly doesn't have the political capital that would come with a real mandate. He got 51% of the vote. His opponent got 48%. The election came down to 130,000 votes in one state and was not really clear how it was going to go until the day after. His opponent got more votes than any other losing candidate in history. This is just another case of Bush believing what he wants to be true even though it isn't. He won largely with the smoke and mirrors of gay marriage and slanderous attacks on John Kerry by his surrogates.

The other thing about political capital is that it disappears very quickly with bad news. When things go well the President gets the credit and when things go badly the President gets the blame. The news on the horizon on the economy and Iraq look pretty bleak for Bush right now. By the time his inauguration rolls around, that political capital will be like the budget, in a serious deficit. Over the next couple years people will be free to dislike the President without having to choose John Kerry over him and alot of his soft supporters will do just that. By the time mid-terms roll around, alot of Republicans in contested seats will be distancing themselves from the President. Watch.

[ewagner]

12. Good points

especially about how it can evaporate with bad news......

Thanks for your input.

[Strawman]

13. Thank you. This is a good thread. n/t

[lutefisk]

14. The obvious example is how he managed the "9/11/01" capital

He had all the political capital imaginable, and he managed to turn it into a debt that this nation owes the rest of the world. We'll be paying that one off for a long, long time. I think he'll blow this "capital" even faster.

[thinkingwoman]

15. Yes! Let him spend his "capitol" quickly

and watch what happens to the repuke party as a result.

[napi21]

16. Aren't there still a bunch of investigations about to be resolved?

Plame, Halliburton, the energy meeting, the second 911 senate report, etc? I'm sure they didn't just go away, they are still simmering just below the surface. If any of them go bad, it will cost some or a lot of that capitol.

[ewagner]

17. Those could

be some of the "news events" mentioned above that cost him. You're correct...but what's happening on those fronts?

[napi21]

18. Here's all I found on the Plame invest. so far.

Then there's Patrick Fitzgerald, the overzealous special prosecutor who is the Inspector Javert of our age. Fitzgerald hasn't made any progress in punishing the White House officials believed to have leaked the identity of the CIA officer Valerie Plame to Robert Novak. But Fitzgerald seems determined to imprison two reporters who committed no crime, Judith Miller of The New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time, because they won't blab about confidential sources.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan is threatening to send them to prison; a hearing is set for Dec. 8. As for Novak, he is in no apparent jeopardy, for reasons that remain unclear.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041111/NEWS/411110332/1039

If this is true, maybe Dec. 8th will bring this to the fore fromt.

[ewagner]

19. Thanks n/t