Bush Makes Nixon Look Good

Quick — somebody get out the political life boats! The Bush administration’s poll numbers continue to sink. Numbers have now gotten so low that pundits are publicly comfortable making open comparisons between Bush and Richard M. Nixon.

A 29 percent popularity rating never translates into political clout. Several prominent Republicans now join Democrats' long-standing Iraq withdrawal calls. And any president being compared to Nixon must realize that they are in loads of very serious trouble.

Richard Nixon certainly was an ambitious public servant. Serving as Vice President under the immensely popular Eisenhower must have seemed like the fast-track ticket to ensuring his own political future. Later, using the ‘silent majority’ strategy, he promised to end the unrest that seemed to be coming from everywhere in the late 1960’s. His methods for bringing domestic order are, of course, well-documented history.

Glenn Greenwald claims Bush is possessed of an identical stubbornness. Once his mind is made up about a decision, this president remains firmly committed to seeing it completed at all costs. Not surprisingly, this stubbornness has backfired. Consistency is a great trait in the private sector and with your own family and friends, but compromise is required to legislate effectively in a democracy. This is why government programs never look exactly as they were originally proposed.

On the political level, sitting back and watching the GOP frantically attempt to repair themselves provides a great reality show. Who needs the fall TV premieres? On the personal and international level though, we know that other countries — particularly in today’s global society — aren’t making very critical distinctions between American political parties. Many see only “American Government” rather than making the distinction between poor Republican leadership, George Bush's failed policies, and Democrats' battles against both.

Yes, Bush’s blunders consequently influence international relations and create diplomatic problems. Some foreign policies do go through. But, we’re not popular to team up with at the moment, and that is attributable to Bush's foreign policies. Nixon's foreign policy skills were considerable, and his analogous, hardline stubbornness played into that — even Star Trek's Spock acknowledged that "Only Nixon could go to China." Although Bush is stubborn and hardline, we cannot say the same about his foreign policy results.