Bob Dole Essay, Research Paper
How Dole Could Have Used The Issues To His Advantage
In a more or less conservative country, the more or less conservative
candidate, Bob Dole, should have been a lock for the presidency; the only
problem was President Clinton. Clinton had moved rightward positioning himself
between Newt Gingrich’s zealous revolutionaries on the right and liberal
democratic barons on the left. Clinton’s speeches started sounding like a
Republican was giving them. Bob Dole had followed the Nixon ideology of going
“starboard” in the primaries and coming back to the center in the general
election. The only question was whether Dole had gone too far right and would
not be able to recover in time. With Clinton’s move to the right and his
advantage of incumbency, Bob Dole would have to present some exciting new ideas
to win over the American people.
Throughout the history of presidential elections, there have been a few
issues that always appear: abortion, crime and the economy. The position taken
by candidates on these issues could make or break their campaign.
The first of these issues, abortion, has been a hotbed of controversy. The
pro-life versus the pro-choice groups. Throughout his political career,
President Clinton has been adamant on supporting a women’s right to choose.
Clinton stands firm on the fact that abortions should be “safe, legal and rare”
without many unnecessary restrictions. To further show his hard stance on
abortion, Clinton vetoed a bill in April that would have banned a rarely used
procedure termed “partial birth abortions.” President Clinton defended his
decision, calling it justifiable in extreme situations, such as cases of rape,
incest and to save the life of the mother. Unlike Bosnia and gays in the
military, Clinton has not wavered on this issue. Bob Dole on the other hand has
taken just the opposite stance on abortion. Dole opposed the 1973 Roe v. Wade
decision that legalized abortion. In 1983 he voted for a constitutional
amendment to overturn this settlement but has since softened his stand and
supported an amendment to restrict abortion except in cases of rape, incest and
if the life of the mother is in danger. Dole, not surprisingly, supported a ban
on “partial birth abortions” and has condemned President Clinton for vetoing it,
saying, “A partial birth abortion blurs the line between abortion and
infanticide, and crosses an ethical and legal line we must never cross.” Dole’s
position could pose a potential obstacle to the presidency. His stance is
responsible for his huge gender gap. Women perceive Dole as rigid and
insensitive to their needs. What Dole must do is stick to his guns but reassure
the nation that even though we do not all agree, we must not let it divide us.
Another mainstay, in terms of issues, is that of crime. With gun control
legislation being debated in the congress and rising rate of drug use among
teenagers, the nation as a whole is acutely aware of this persistent dilemma.
Clinton is the first Democrat in a long time to take the crime issue from the
Republicans. A law and order president, Clinton has supported the death penalty,
and backed the “three strikes you’re out” policy of life sentences for three
time convicted criminals. The President also signed the Brady bill establishing
a five day waiting period to buy handguns and also pushed the mainly Democratic,
1994 crime bill which sanctioned 100,000 new community police officers. Dole
has supported almost every anti-crime legislation that has passed his desk in
his 35 years in Congress, but in a show of partisan politics led an opposition
fight against Clinton’s crime bill. He called it “pork la
of such frivolous programs such as midnight basketball, which called for a
program to open up school gyms to inner city youth in order to keep them off the
streets. Dole also tried unsuccessfully to undo the provision for 100,000
police officers, arguing instead that communities should be free to spend their
money in any manner they wish and supported overturning the ban on assault
weapons. In addition Dole has been critical of Clinton’s judicial appointments
calling them soft on crime. He has pledged to appoint tough judges who will be
tough on crime, especially drugs. Dole must use this issue relentlessly. Even
though crime numbers are down, crime is still a problem. Dole must repeat his
call for prisoners to work 40 hours a week to help compensate their victims and
then move quickly to the drug epidemic. Dole must use Clinton’s slip ups
against him. Recall that Clinton said that if he had to do it all over again,
he would inhale. Dole must also use fellow Democrats against Clinton, such as
representative Charles Rangel, who has been quoted as saying, “I’ve been in
congress for over two decades and I have not seen a President who cares less
about this issue.”
With the federal deficit in the trillions of dollars, the government has
been increasingly trying to cut back spending but more must be done. The
American public has grown very wary of the excess money being spent by
government. Any presidential hopeful must address this issue adamantly.
Clinton took many steps early in his first term to show his New Democrat
ideology through heavy deficit cutting, and due to a big tax increase, the
deficit has fallen from $290 billion to $130 billion during his first four years.
He also called for a line-item veto, a Republican idea, for three years before
getting it passed. Clinton would use this as a waste cutting tool. Since that,
however, Clinton has neglected the issue, particularly on the balanced budget,
suggesting 10, 8, and 7 year proposals. Last year his opposition to a 7-year
balanced budget forced two partial government shutdowns.
During his congressional career, Bob Dole was a deficit buster, supporting
a balanced budget while belittling supply side tax cutters. In an effort to
combat Clinton’s double digit lead in the polls, Dole has reverted to a plan for
a three year, 15 percent income tax cut and a $500 per child tax credit.
Although this would still up the deficit by $550 to $800 billion, Dole insists
he can still balance the budget through a Reaganomics style economic growth.
Even though support for Dole’s 15 percent tax cut has declined he must still
harp on it. It will look much more coherent if it is used in context with the
cost of college, home prices and the problem of caring for the elderly. Dole
must also stress the fact that Clinton is for big government, which means
spending big money. This will also make his tax cut more compatible to the
people. If all else fails, just say, ” The best way to keep government
officials from spending your money is not to give it to them in the first
place.” It worked for Reagan.
Dole did not use the issues effectively, and he did not show confidence in
his ideas. Clinton presented himself as a brake between Dole and Gingrich’s
conservatism and it worked. Dole presented facts and figures, then expected the
American public to applaud him. But we’re dealing with reality here, to win, he
should have been more aggressive and tackled the issues head on. In the end, by
not addressing the issues clearly, Presidents Clinton’s centrist stand, coupled
with the good economy and aggressive campaigning, was too much for Bob Dole to
over come.