Well, I had been dreading this. In the few days leading up to the 5th anniversary of 9-11, I had seen Bush's approval ratings in the Rasmussen poll slowly but steadily inching up. From 40% to 42% to 44%, today his approval rate has jumped to 47%, his highest ratings in months. Rasmussen says his "bounce" is attributed to his resurgence of support among the GOP faithful.
This all shows the enduring viability of the Republican fear machine, as well as the inability of the Democratic leadership to come up with a clear plan which the public understands on our policies on the war on Iraq as well as the so-called "War on Terror." For Democrats to stop another Rovian fear-induced disappointment in November,we have to present a clear message to the American people on what exactly is our policy in Iraq. Frankly, I know we don't have one. Talk to 20 different Democratic senators, and you will get about 20 different variations in their responses. This is killing us.
The scary thing about this poll is that this huge uptick in Bush's approval ratings occurred even before his speech to the nation on 9-11. Since his "tracking poll" is based on a 3-day rolling average, Friday will be the first day that the poll reflects his approval ratings after his speech on 9-11. His approval rating could reach a majority. We are seeing the November elections slip away from us by the failure of the Democrats to respond to the predicted Republican sequel to "Fear Factor."
The Democrats are in a losing position if we let the Republicans again frame whats going on in our country as a "WAR ON TERROR." When Americans are in a war, they almost always stick with the incumbent. We have to get across to the American people that a war is between 2 nation states with standing armies, that terrorism will and has been around since the beginning of time, and what will defeat it or at least contain it is to change hearts and minds so that young Arab men do not grow up with a visceral hatred for America's government, and now for its people.
Our occupation of a Moslem country, as well as our presence in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, is seen as a sacrilege to devout Moslems. While not wanting to take sides in the never-ending Arab-Israeli conflict, we must realize that the perception (which in this case is the reality), that our government is biased in favor of Israel, and that American-made weapons in the hand of the Israeli Defense Forces have killed hundreds if not thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians, children among them, is a huge part of the reason so many young Arab men have such a deep hatred for America.
We need to educate the American people about the realities of the geopolitical position. Unfortunately, we cannot seem to compete with the simplicity of Bush's "good vs. evil" rhetoric, which so neatly comforms to the rise in fundamentalist Protestant Christianity across so much of the nation. The rightwing control by the corporate media benefitting so much from GOP de-regulation and corporate tax cuts makes our task even harder.
Also, the seeming "co-incidence" of the drastic fall in gasoline prices with the upcoming congressional elections is cutting into the economic anxiety and anger that was fueling the stability of Bush's low approval ratings. While gas prices were high, his approval was low. Now, with the dramatically lower gas prices, his approval ratings are rising dramatically.
We may be seeing the slipping away of the coming elections unless Democrats can somehow convice the American people that our plan (which we don't have at present) will keep them safer from "terrorism" than the Republican policies of unending war and fear.
We need to get our act together fast, or we will once again be wringing our hands on election night in November. I hope that the recent uptick in Bush's approval ratings are just a temporary bounce, which will soon be drowned out by a steady drumbeat from the continuing bad news from Iraq. But what I fear is happening is that the Republican model of the rhetoric of unending war in the fight between "good and evil" is too strongly entrenched in the American mindset right now, because it so strongly is supported by the basic laziness of the American people on international and political questions, and so neatly fits in with the religious fundamentalist outlook which seems to be sweeping our nation in Bush's so-called "Third Wave" or religious fervor.
Our leaders need to get a plan, they need to educate the America people, or we are going to never again see a Democratic congress.