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Produced & Maintained by Idaho Mountain Express, Box 1013, Ketchum, ID 83340-1013 
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Copyright © 2002 Express Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 


For the week of February 12-18, 2003

Opinion

Fear: Bush
strategy for ’04?


By PAT MURPHY

The growing field of eager Democrats clamoring for the 2004 presidential nomination to take on George Bush may find their likely fate in Israel’s recent elections.

Despite staggering majorities as high as 70 percent disapproving of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s tactics against Palestinians and his settlement expansion policies, they voted him back into office anyway out of the most compelling human motivation of all—fear.

Israelis feared that other candidates whose policies were more to their liking lacked the brass knuckle stuff to deal with Palestinian terrorists.

So, how does this translate for 2004’s U.S. presidential elections?

The political juggernaut masterminded by the cunning White House Svengali, Karl Rove, is conditioning Americans with a subliminal foreboding of the future, and, ipso facto, that 2004 is no time to change leaders. As another Republican, Abraham Lincoln, said in 1864 during the Civil War in his second run for president, "It is not best to swap horses while crossing the river."

Rove makes certain there’s no evidence of overt political exploitation of terrorism or an Iraqi war.

But images and words are relentless.

On Sunday, commander-in-chief George W. Bush ramped war talk to a new level. "We are now a battle ground."

The government’s color-coded terrorist threat level alert is periodically ratcheted up, then down, along with warnings of increased peril that have yet to develop.

Television follows troops in battle camouflage bidding farewell to weeping children and spouses as they head for harm’s way.

Small pox vaccinations are provided for homeland responders to protect them against biological attack.

The Justice Department admits it’s discussing amendments to the Patriot Act to give John Ashcroft more police powers without judicial oversight.

Criticism will be regarded as un-American. A fund-raising letter bearing the signature of the most powerful Republican on Capitol Hill, Majority Leader Rep. Tom ("The Hammer") DeLay of Texas, accuses labor unions of unpatriotically "(using) the national emergencies we face today to grab more power." DeLay, known for his below-the-belt tactics, haughtily claims he didn’t authorize the letter; an assistant was responsible, he claims.

Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge advises Americans to carry personal documents—as if papers are needed (a) to navigate police checkpoints or (b) for identification in the event of death during a terrorist attack.

President Bush also talks of long-term domestic programs, hinting (as Israel’s Ariel Sharon did) that none are attainable without his hand on the national tiller for years to come.

Suggesting his indispensability in a crisis is a winning tactic. With the crisis continuing for as far as the political eye can see, war and talk of war and symbols of war will be everywhere, everyday for Americans right up to Election Day 2004.

Democrats hoping to outsmart Bush will have to come up with something better than their simple-minded whimpering if they hope to change the American mood and debunk Lincoln’s cracker barrel wisdom about changing horses.

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The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.