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Monday, September 4, 2006
Hail to the Chief, but not to his coattails
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There’s no better way to kick off the post-Labor Day campaign season than with a visit from the President.
When the White House last week added a policy speech in Atlanta to President Bush’s scheduled stop at a Max Burns fund-raiser in Pooler, it made this an official rather than a purely political trip to Georgia, an accounting distinction which affects who pays for the jet fuel.
In reality, for the next two months it’s all political in one way or another. Bush’s new theme, using the word “fascism” to link Islamic terrorists and their state sponsors to the nation’s enemies in World War II, is the cornerstone of the Republican effort to hang on to their majority in Congress. We’re likely to hear a new development of that idea when Bush speaks to the Georgia Public Policy Foundation Thursday.
Something similar worked for the Republicans two years ago and four years ago. Whether Bush is as effective as a messagizer this year will obviously have a big impact on the 12th District congressional race between Burns, the Republican challenger and former congressman, and Democratic incumbent John Barrow.
But there are things to be noted about Bush’s footprint in other Georgia races. In 2002 and 2004, Republican candidates in state legislative races didn’t hesitate to run Bush’s picture in their flyers.
That was evidence of the growing nationalization of politics, with a more uniform partisan message, centering around a similar set of issues, spreading ever deeper into the grassroots.
Every trend has its limits, and it may be that top-down politics is getting to that point.
The issue which best illustrates the difficulties of nationalized campaigns isn’t the War on Terror. Despite some defections by Republicans in other parts of the country, Bush’s message is likely to be received warmly at the Cobb Galleria Centre.
Instead, it’s immigration, a subject the president is unlikely to touch on this week. Without some basic consensus – which on this issue the GOP doesn’t have – it’s hard to churning out talking points that work for every race from town council on up. The same could be said of stem cell research or the budget deficit, but immigration definitely tops the list.
Just by coincidence, there was Gov. Sonny Perdue late last week on the U.S.-Mexican border, charting his own course on the topic. With nary a President in sight.
