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The Great Backlash of 2004 - Part II
By Doug Patton
January 19, 2004

January 20, 2005 - As the American people inaugurated their 44th president, the "experts" were still in a state of stunned disbelief. The fact that George W. Bush had followed his father into the history books as a one-term president was a surprise. The manner in which it happened was nothing short of a constitutional earthquake.

The electorate had turned on their president as a direct result of his proposal to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. After Mr. Bush announced his plan during the January congressional recess of 2004, many believed he would simply back away from it. Instead, he persisted. Calculating that it would gain the GOP needed support in the Hispanic Community, the president twisted GOP arms in Congress. The amnesty passed, and he signed it into law on Labor Day. By then, the damage was done and the president had a Democrat and two viable independents lined up against him.

After a bruising campaign season, the Democrats had chosen as their standard bearer retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who immediately confirmed the rumors that he was the candidate of the Clintons by selecting Hillary as his running mate.

Furious at what he called "a highway robbery," former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean bolted the party and announced that he was accepting the nomination of the Green Party. Tens of thousands of "Deaniacs" vowed to follow him and his running mate, sixties activist Angela Davis, all the way to November.

Meanwhile, on the right, TV commentator and past presidential candidate Pat Buchanan became the nominee of the Constitution Party, which had been working quietly for years to get itself on the ballot in every state in the nation. At the party's one-day convention on the Fourth of July, Buchanan was selected over three other contenders: U.S. Representatives Tom Tancredo of Colorado and Ron Paul of Texas, and former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. Buchanan selected Moore as his running mate.

The resulting political clash created five million new voters on the right and the left. On Election Day, 68 percent of the eligible electorate turned out for their favorite candidate. It was the largest turnout in fifty years.

It was not enough.

With four viable candidates on the ballot, the electoral count was so splintered that no one received a majority, thus throwing the election into the House of Representatives. At first, this seemed like a victory for the Bush-Cheney ticket. But as the smoke cleared the morning after the election, it became clear that the backlash had hurt more than just the president. Twenty-two incumbent Republican House members who had voted for the immigration policy lost their seats, thus tipping control back into the hands of the Democrats.

In the Senate, the GOP also suffered defeat, although the numbers were not as great. The Senate tally now stood at 53-47 (Vermont's "independent," Jim Jeffords, had finally, officially become a Democrat).

On January 3, 2005, the first order of business in the House was to choose a president. With Democrats in power again, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Wesley Clark would prevail. However, among the freshman Democrats was a group of hard-core liberals who had supported Howard Dean. These firebrands saw an opportunity and seized it. A feeling that "we can do anything we want" ran through the Democrat Leadership. The impassioned appeal of these freshman ignited a fire under enough of their colleagues that the leadership, now headed by liberal Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, could not control the body.

After two solid weeks of gridlock, a constitutional crisis loomed. A new president had to be chosen by January 20, the last day of George W. Bush's term. The matter of choosing a vice president now fell to the United States Senate. The selection of one of their own, Hillary Clinton, was so swift that the American people hardly knew what had happened.

With the House hopelessly deadlocked on the selection of a president, Hillary Rodham Clinton was sworn in as acting president. In her inauguration speech, with a smirking Bill Clinton in the background, she spoke of "a new American Dream." Her harshest critics called it "a nightmare."

As she and her husband once again took up residence in the White House, no one doubted for a moment that she had any intention of relinquishing power any time soon.

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Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has served as a speechwriter and policy advisor for federal, state and local candidates, elected officials and public policy organizations. His weekly columns are published in newspapers across the country, and on selected Internet web sites, including www.GOPUSA.com, where he serves as the Nebraska Editor. He also writes for Talon News Service (www.TalonNews.com). Readers can e-mail him at Doug.Patton@GOPUSA.com.

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.