From: sackman@sendit.nodak.edu (Gleason Sackmann)
Subject: nwsweek special election issue guide
Organization: SENDIT BBS Fargo, North Dakota
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 23:03:54 GMT



     NEWSWEEK THIS WEEK
     Based on NEWSWEEK's Special Election Issue,
     November/December 1992
 
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     THE TORCH PASSES
 
     For Class Discussion:
 
     1. What role did each of the following demographic groups
     play in Clinton's victory (pages 4-10)? (a) Reagan
     Democrats; (b) independent or swing voters; (c) women; (d)
     blacks and Hispanics; (e) military veterans; (f) young
     voters; (g) blue-collar workers.
 
     2. Which issue was the driving force in the election? What
     aspect of Clinton's political message did voters respond to?
     What aspects of Bush's candidacy did voters find dismaying?
 
     3. Do you believe Ross Perot enriched the political process
     in 1992 or debased it? Should Perot end his political career
     now, or begin it anew? Why? One political observer (page 13)
     noted that Perot made people feel like someone was talking
     TO them, not AT them, thereby preserving faith in the
     electoral process. Explain whether you agree with that
     assessment.
 
     Individual and Group Activities:
 
     4. Assume you are a Republican National Committee officer
     intent on preparing your party for the 1994 congressional
     elections and the 1996 presidential race. Outline a strategy
     plan to cover: (a) leadership (familiar faces or new ones?);
     (b) ideology; (c) issue positions; (d) economic policy.
 
     5. Many observers feel that key issues, such as racism and
     the urban crisis, were not addressed in the campaign by
     Clinton. Prepare a position paper on these issues, including
     agendas for action. Send your proposals to the new
     administration.
 
     6. Refer to page 17 and the next issue of NEWSWEEK (November
     16, 1992). Use your Issues Today "Election 1992" wall map
     and an outline map of the United States to create a
     political map of the 103rd Congress. Present the new
     Congress to the class, pointing out changes in its makeup,
     including the number of (a) Democrats and Republicans; (b)
     new members; (c) women and minority members. Summarize how
     you feel the new Congress and president will approach the
     legislative process.
 
     7. Ross Perot became the most successful independent
     presidential candidate since Theodore Roosevelt. Compare the
     political and social climates that fostered third-party and
     independent candidates in 1912 (T. Roosevelt); 1924 (La
     Follette); 1948 (Thurmond and H. Wallace); 1968 (G.
     Wallace); 1980 (Anderson); and 1992 (Perot).
 
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     WHO'S IN, WHO'S OUT IN THE NEW CONGRESS
 
     What effect do you think the victorious newcomers--women,
     minorities and non-politicians--will have upon America's
     political process (pages 17-19)? Explain whether Tuesday's
     election turned out to be--as predicted--the year of the
     woman. How many women candidates won election? Discuss those
     races.
 
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     AMERICA CHANGES THE GUARD
 
     1. State your position on the following theory: Bush's two
     most indelible lines, charging in 1980 that Reagan was
     practicing voodoo economics, and his exhortation in 1988 to
     read his lips--he would not permit new taxes, testify to his
     largest fault: his lack of political conviction (pages 20-
     23). Use evidence from the article to support your view.
 
     2. After the Persian Gulf War, Bush's approval ratings hit
     90 percent. Six months later, the halo effect of the war had
     dimmed and his ratings plummeted. What forces, people and
     issues accounted for the drastic drop in Bush's popularity?
 
     3. For some Americans, politicians' principal interest is
     their own survival and betterment at the expense of the
     public's welfare. One poll found that two-thirds of
     Americans think that a sizable number of politicians are
     crooked. Do you agree with this line of thinking? Why or why
     not?
 
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     `MANHATTAN PROJECT' 1992
 
     During the early part of the Democratic primary, most people
     considered Clinton to be a "typical politician" (pages 40-
     56). How did his advisers recast his image? How was Clinton
     able to reorient misconceptions about his character? What
     central message(s) did he finally settle upon?
 
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     ROCKY ROAD TO HOUSTON
 
     1. Comment upon the following: "In a season of change, Bush
     was becoming the candidate of the status quo; people wanted
     something done, and all they heard from him was what he
     couldn't, wouldn't or shouldn't do" (page 61). For many
     months, Bush and his advisers refused to admit that America
     was in a dismal recession. What effect did this wait-and-see
     approach to the economy have on Bush's political popularity?
 
     2. Early in the election many Republicans conceded that Dan
     Quayle must be slashed from the ticket (pages 65-69). Why
     and how did Quayle keep himself on the GOP ticket? Explain
     whether Quayle's attack on Murphy Brown--and his emphasis on
     family values in general--was a success with the electorate.
 
     3. Why can it be argued that the Republican Convention was
     the beginning of the end for Bush? In what ways did the
     Republican speakers and planners misread the mood of the
     American public? What important goals did the Republicans
     accomplish at the Convention; which did they fail to
     accomplish?
 
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     SUPERHERO
 
     1. How did Ross Perot become involved in the presidential
     race (pages 70-77)? How would you describe the Myth of Ross
     Perot? How can a businessman with no public philosophy, no
     positions on issues and few consultants make such an impact
     on the political landscape?  What did the American
     electorate like and respect about Perot? What
     characteristics and qualities did they come to fear in him?
     Comment on the following: What Perot envisioned was an
     ongoing political movement; what he wrought instead was a
     cult of personality.
 
     2. What reason did Perot give for originally dropping out of
     the presidential race? What reason did he later cite during
     an interview on "60 Minutes"? What effect did his apparent
     waffling--and alleged paranoia--have on the voters? How
     would you characterize Perot's brief experiment with
     political consultants Rollins and Jordan? Do you think Perot
     would have profited by listening to them? Why or why not?
 
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     TO THE WIRE
     1. Explain whether you agree with the following assessment
     of Bush: that he ran one the most "unremittingly negative
     campaigns in contemporary history--so strident that his own
     virtues and his new-minted Agenda for America were bare
     afterthoughts to his assault on Bill Clinton" (page 92).
 
     2. What is a "silver bullet" (pages 93-94)? What "silver
     bullets" did the Bush campaign use or consider using in its
     attempt to tar Clinton's reputation? How did this mode of
     attack backfire on Bush's electoral efforts?

     3. Discuss the following statement: "The birth of a new
     presidency is a kind of rebirth, a moment of hope and
     renewal ... But the Clinton presidency was coming into being
     under a cloud of civic anxiety and personal doubt ... He had
     been borne to the threshold of the White House not so much
     by faith as by a wave of anger at the way things were" (page
     95). What are your predictions for the success of the new
     administration? Do you agree with this assessment of the
     current national mood?
 
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     TODAY'S LANGUAGE
 
     The following words appear in this week's issue of NEWSWEEK.
     Write a sentence for each and compare your answer with a
     partner's.
 
     * HEGEMONY (the predominant influence of one state over
     others)
     "Throughout the campaign and in a furious, 4,000-mile round
     of last-minute campaigning, Clinton had sought to lay waste
     the GOP's hegemony in presidential politics." (page 8)
 
     * STOICISM (indifference to pleasure or pain, impassiveness)
     "His relentless cheerfulness, his stoicism and his
     shrewdness will all stand him in good stead in the hard
     years ahead." (page 10).
 
     * TETHER (to restrict or bind with or as with a tether--a
     rope or chain or halter for an animal)
     "Steeper was an understated man, his imagination tethered
     firmly to earth by his data." (page 20)
 
     * PROSAIC (of or like prose; matter of fact, ordinary)
     "His people despaired of his suddenly growing a Vision
     Thing, or even producing a more prosaic to-do list for a
     second term." (page 22)
 
     * SUPPLANT (to take the place of; supersede)
     "Pessimism supplanted hope in the American Dream." (page 23)
 
     * PROFLIGATE (recklessly wasteful; wildly extravagant)
     "Elections had become charades, all empty rhetoric, slung
     mud and profligate spending." (page 23)
 
     * LEGERDEMAIN (slight of hand)
     "It took some legerdemain and the power of prayer to keep
     Kerrey aloft." (page 29)
 
     * DRAGOON (to coerce by violent measures; harass)
     "A palace coup very nearly unseated Dan Quayle, and another
     one dragooned a reluctant Jim Baker." (page 65)
 
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     Quiz Answers
     1. C (page 6)
     2. D (same)
     3. B (pages 9, 13)
     4. A (pages 9, 94)
     5. C (page 13)
     6. D (page 17)
     7. C (same)
     8. B (pages 22, 9)
     9. A (page 22)
     10. D (page 30)
     11. C (page 34)
     12. B (page 38)
     13. B (pages 40-41)
     14. A (page 55)
     15. A (same)
     16. B (page 56)
     17. D (page 58)
     18. C (page 60)
     19. A (page 61)
     20. C (page 62)
     21. C (pages 22, 61, 65)
     22. B (pages 62-64, 68)
     23. D (pages 66, 83)
     24. D (page 72)
     25. C (page 78)
     Essay: Answers will vary.
 
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     For information about NEWSWEEK's Education Programs, call
     toll-free, 1-800-526-2595.endit
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Gleason Sackman                           BBS:       sackman@sendit.nodak.edu
Coordinator                               Internet:  sackman@plains.nodak.edu
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