Preparing for the future requires understanding the past. Gov. George W. Bush has shown he understands almost nothing about recent history — which bodes ill for any future Bush administration.
According to Bush, the last eight years have brought only squandered opportunities in the White House. He blames President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore for falling prey to Washington partisanship and for failing to lead. He promises "a different kind of leadership style" that will get things done.
This is an absurd reading of the past eight years. The booming economy, spurred by the Clinton-Gore 1993 budget agreement, is only part of the story. There is also the lowest unemployment rate in 30 years, the lowest crime rate in a generation, the highest rates of home ownership in American history, as well as the biggest federal deficits of all time turned into the biggest federal surpluses. Clinton and Gore have raised the minimum wage. They have passed the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Brady Act, the Violence Against Women Act and much more.
There is also a great deal that Clinton and Gore did not accomplish. But when Bush blames these failures on "partisanship," he begs the question: partisanship by whom?
Repeatedly since 1994, an unresponsive radical Republican Congress has sold the country short. We all remember how, for partisan and ideological reasons, the GOP crusaders shut down the federal government in 1995. But there has been much more.
Health Care: For two years, the American people have been waiting for a strong and enforceable Patient's Bill of Rights. The House actually passed one earlier this year, only to have the Republican leadership bottle it up in conference. Meanwhile, the White House has extended patient protections to more than 85 million Americans via executive order.
Family Leave: The Congress has ditched White House proposals to expand the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover an additional 10 million Americans working in small companies and to allow parents to take time off for parent-teacher conferences and routine doctor appointments.
Campaign Finance Reform: The GOP-controlled Senate has sternly blocked the McCain-Feingold Bill, a bipartisan reform plan.
Tax Relief: In 1998, the Republican leadership pushed a 10-percent cut in tax rates that was so costly and outrageously weighted to benefit the rich that even GOP moderates thought it was unfair. Clinging to their "enrich-the-rich" proposals, the Republicans have killed sensible tax relief for middle-class Americans.
Gun Safety: For months, the Republican Congress has refused to consider common-sense gun legislation, including a ban on the importation of large capacity ammunition clips.
Nuclear Testing: The United States led the international effort for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and was the first major nation to sign it. The treaty has the support of four former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from the Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations. But Senate Republicans blocked it for more than two years, and then rejected it after just eight days of debate.
Environment: Claiming that global warming is a hoax, the Republican Senate has refused to back the historic Kyoto accords, the first comprehensive international effort to combat the problem.
In short, the deficiencies that Bush, posing as an outsider, likes to blame on generic Washington partisanship have really been the fault of Republican obstructionism.
And how will Bush, with his "leadership style," end the "partisan bickering"? Simple. He will give the GOP diehards everything they want.
On health care, Bush has backed the phony "bill of rights" plan promoted by the big insurance and pharmaceutical companies and backed by GOP fat cats. And on the other key issues, once you strip away his rhetoric, Bush holds the same positions as Trent Lott, Tom DeLay and the rest of the GOP leaders.
A Bush victory, coupled with continued Republican control of the Congress, will give the political right effective control of all three branches of the federal government for the first time since before the New Deal. A Gore victory will mean a White House pledged to continue and expand the successful policies of the last eight years.
These are the lessons of history. And these are the stakes in this singularly important election.
(Sean Wilentz is the Dayton-Stockton Professor of History and Director of the Program in American Studies. He can be reached at swilentz@princeton.edu)
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