All politics is, in fact, personal. President-elect Bush showed enormous courage in insisting on campaigning for a personal Social Security savings account. He explained it well enough that the American people favored it 59-37 in exit polling on Election Day. Very few young people had translated the ideas into a larger retirement income for themselves, greater wealth for themselves in terms of dollars and cents, and personally better lives. The result was that Governor Bush did not reap the reward of a decisive majority among younger voters that his courageous position ought to have earned him.
Democrats find it easy to explain issues in personal and emotional terms.
Republicans prefer to discuss issues at a public policy level. Republicans simply must master this art if they are to govern effectively. A Bush Administration and a Republican Party which constantly remembers the strategic reality that it simply must govern, and which seeks to govern by following these four strategies will have a very real opportunity to both achieve great things for our country and be rewarded by the voters for their effort. Conversely, if they do not grasp the reality of shifting from an obstructionist party to a creative party thirstily seeking results, the next two elections could be disastrous.