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There is nothing contradictory in what we have both said. I will say that I interpret the second run a bit differently from you, though. I think that five things happened, besides Bush hurting himself with the tax increase: the Democrats finally figured out that they needed a Southerner who talked like a moderate to win; Bush, through his stunning success in the Gulf War, set people up to expect vigorous action domestically, and to interpret the laissez- faire approach as not caring; Democrats and their economists had been predicting the terrible consequences of Reaganomics, and when the recession hit started yelling "the sky is falling"; Bush was relentless attacked from the Right, in a manner that suggested the recession was his fault, and Buchanan, in the primaries, played the class card, to suggest reinforce the idea that he didn't care; and Perot stayed in the general election to attract traditionally Republican voters, especially among Independents. I could probably come up with a couple more things, like the end of the Cold War reducing the fear of Democratic wussiness, but that will do for the moment...... |
