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Is 41 Corrupting 43?
By Doug Patton
July 16, 2001

Recently, President George Walker Bush celebrated his 55th birthday with his family, including his father, former President George Herbert Walker Bush, now 77. As Dubya and Dad fished off the coast of Maine, each sporting a baseball cap bearing the moniker of his numerical position in the history of the presidency -- 43 for Dubya, 41 for Dad -- one couldn't help but wonder about the enormous influence the father is having on the son.

Let me say at the outset that I believe Bush the younger is possessed of an almost Reaganesque optimism and love of this country, its people and its traditions. He has conservative instincts that have served him well thus far in his brief career in elective office.

Bush the elder entered his presidency with arguably the most well-rounded resume of any president in history -- war hero; husband of one, father of five; successful businessman; service in the U.S. House of Representatives; a run for the Senate; a stint as Republican National Committee chairman; first U.S. envoy to China; a year as CIA chief; and, of course, eight years as vice president.

All that said, the elder Bush was elected essentially to serve a third Reagan term, an expectation he came nowhere near fulfilling. New England born and bred, his father a U.S. Senator in the upscale, moneyed, Dewey/Rockefeller wing of the GOP, old 41 was always a believer in big government. Not huge government, perhaps, but big nonetheless. When he challenged Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination in 1980, he ran as an unabashed, pro-choice moderate and called Reagan's supply-side philosophy "voodoo economics." After soundly defeating Bush in the primaries, Reagan graciously offered him the vice presidential spot on the ticket.

After eight years of watching the Gipper connect with the American people, 41 learned his lesson and ran as a conservative in 1988. It worked, especially against the hopelessly liberal Michael Dukakis. But when he became president, his true colors began to show again.

From his cave-in on the 1990 tax increase, to the Americans With Disabilities Act, to his appointment of the liberal David Souter to the U.S. Supreme Court, by 1992 it was obvious to most true conservatives that old 41 was a big government guy at heart.

My concern now is that the great respect 43 rightfully has for his father is translating into an undo influence that is working against the president's conservative instincts. Consider a few issues, and see if they are not reminiscent of decisions 41 might have made:

• Education -- Whenever Ted Kennedy endorses your bill, it should send up red flags. The strongest feature of the original White House-backed bill was vouchers. Without them, the bill was just more federal meddling in the education of our children. The National Education Association is deathly afraid of parental choice in education. The price of Ted Kennedy's support, of course, was to jettison the vouchers.
• Stem Cell Research -- This seems to be the issue that is causing 43 the greatest agony. Aides tell us that this is a man who, as governor, could spend as little as ten or fifteen minutes considering clemency for a condemned murderer facing execution. Yet he seems preoccupied with the issue of federal funding of research on human embryos to a greater degree than has been evident in any of his previous presidential decisions. My guess is that his pro-life instincts tell him that funding this research is wrong, that in fact it would take the United States (wherein the taking of innocent human life is simply a terrible, unjust license given to individuals) over the line that still distinguishes us from Nazi Germany (wherein the government itself sponsored, funded and carried out the extermination of -- and experimentation with -- human life).
• Illegal Immigration -- Now the idea is being floated to solve the problem of illegal immigrants by making them American citizens. It reminds me of liberal proposals to eliminate drug crime by decriminalizing all drugs. This irresponsible political ploy to attract Hispanic votes to the 2004 Bush campaign will instead create a crushing wave of illegals the likes of which we have never seen.

Rush Limbaugh once said that when the history of the late twentieth century is written, it won't be Ronald Reagan and George Bush who will be lumped together (as in "the Reagan-Bush era"). Rather, the combination will be known as "the Bush-Clinton era." Bill Clinton so shamed the presidency that it is difficult to make that case today, but the sentiment was understandable at the time, given 41's penchant for big government solutions.

Let's hope our great-grandchildren won't be reading about the Bush-Clinton-Bush era of big, expansive, bloated government and lost American sovereignty.

Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has served as a speechwriter and policy advisor to federal, state and local candidates and elected officials. His work can be viewed weekly on GOPUSA.

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