AMERICANS are happy with President Bush. His average job approval rating since the Sept. 11 attacks has been 87 percent. The average of the seven preceding months was a full 30 points lower (Gallup Poll, Jan. 14). However, Democrats and other former Bush opponents should not become so distracted by Bush's foreign policy in Afghanistan that they forget what they previously disliked about his administration.
Even Democrats are becoming increasingly more amiable to the president. In the weekend before the World Trade Center attacks, a mere 27 percent of Democrats approved of how Bush was handling his office, compared with 83 percent of Republicans. After the attacks, Republican approval climbed 15 points, while Democratic approval skyrocketed to 84 percent (Gallup Poll, Sept. 24, 2001). The partisan lines have been smudged - Democratic and Republican statistics now are comparable.
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The outpouring of support for Bush is not unusual. Historically, national tragedies always have helped boost presidential public approval. Franklin Roosevelt received an 84 percent approval rating in the weeks after Pearl Harbor. Harry Truman had even more support when the Western Front was won during WWII. Close to 90 percent of the population thought the first George Bush was doing a fine job at the end of the chaos of the Persian Gulf War.
War has united the American people against a common enemy. We look to the president because we need a leader to rally around. The nature of the situation has made the effort against Afghanistan necessarily bipartisan.
Appropriately, the war with Afghanistan has been the first thing on Bush's agenda and the first thing on the public's mind. But it can't be the only thing. The nation goes on, even, if not especially, in wartime. Bush's handling of the current crisis is not the sole contributing factor to the performance of his general administration. Yet Americans increasingly are succumbing to this principle. The job approval statistics don't refer only to what Bush is doing in Afghanistan - they refer to his general presidency.
Bush effectively could utilize the support base he's built up to gain approval for other measures. His weight in Congress definitely has improved with his current backing by the American people. Presidents with high approval ratings can present more ambitious agendas and likely will be more successful with their legislation. Bush's popularity affords him a certain amount of "political capital," which he can spend in other areas.
For example, Bush recently was able to pass the most far-reaching federal education bill ever, partially due to his improved weight in Congress. Congressmen are hesitant to disagree with a popular president. Society demands that they support our leader. And while Bush has made some concessions (for example, on airport security), he undoubtedly will call on Democrats to make concessions on other matters.
Bush's high popularity also may affect the upcoming midterm Congressional elections. Voters may remember Bush, and more importantly his party, as achieving success in the foreign arena, and forget domestic issues, like the failing economy. Many even unfairly associate the economic problems with the terrorist attacks.
Republicans are capitalizing on the situation to distract voters. The GOP recently attacked the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for plans to run radio ads criticizing Republican economic proposals. The Republican Party accused Democrats of "playing politics" in a time of crisis. Not only could the GOP try to focus the voters on defense issues, but they also could continue to wrongly portray the opposing party as insensitive.
Bush's handling of the crisis has become the embodiment of his general administration, giving his presidency unwarranted support. Looking even further into the future, if Bush continues to appeal to Americans, there is the danger of a change in election dynamics. More and more people who were adamantly against Bush before Sept. 11 are saying now that they like him in office. His stance on taxes, gun control, homosexual rights and a wealth of other issues alienated Democratic constituents a year ago, but now the weight of these platforms will be compromised by the prominence of Bush's foreign policy during this period. The public's respect for Bush is growing. Americans could begin to entrust their decisions to his knowledge and leadership, letting their faith in him eclipse their original beliefs.
In the wake of this tragedy, we have been constantly trying to remind ourselves that we cannot let our ordinary lives be interrupted. This is one more example of how the attacks are distracting America. Liberal minded Democrats should not forget why they didn't vote for Bush a year ago. He may be performing admirably in this particular arena, but this shouldn't mask his basic policy. We need our president to improve things during a national crisis; we can't let a national crisis be the making of a president.
(Kimberly Liu's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at kliu@cavalierdaily.com.)
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