It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part Twenty-Two

This was first published in November 2012


 "Bush's Poll Numbers Plummet"

President Bush wanted to deal with the huge federal budget deficit and he had to work with Democratic majorities in both houses to accomplish that. Democrats wanted some tax increases as a part of any deal and Republicans, especially hard line conservatives, wanted only budget cuts. For Bush, his campaign pledge, "Read my lips, no new taxes," was a major obstacle for him, but the President made the commitment to keep tax increases as part of the negotiations. The deal reached cut spending by more than $300 billion and raised revenues by a little more than $150 billion over a five year period. The deal had a provision for any new spending or tax cuts to be offset by some form of spending cuts and/or tax increases elsewhere. The bill passed the Senate with 35 Democrats and 20 Republicans voting FOR the bill and 19 Democrats and 25 Republicans voting AGAINST the measure, and it passed the House with 217 Democrats and 10 Republicans voting FOR and 40 Democrats and 163 Republicans voting AGAINST the bill. President Bush deserves credit for putting the country first and his political party, and his own ego, second. It takes a big person to go against "Read my lips, no new taxes," and his party's increasingly venomous right wing, which attacked him for supporting and signing the legislation. Bush and congressional leaders formed a coalition to get the legislation passed, based upon compromise for the good of the nation. George Bush also drew the wrath of the NRA (National Rifle Association), which had essentially become part of the Republican coalition (with some exceptions), when he supported a ban on the import of some semi-automatic weapons.

Another major event during Bush's presidency was his nomination of Clarence Thomas for a seat on the Supreme Court. Thomas was a black conservative Republican judge chosen by Bush to replace retiring black progressive judge, Thurgood Marshall. Interest groups from both sides of the political spectrum mobilized over the Thomas nomination. The nomination hearings reached fever pitch, with millions of Americans tuned in, when Anita Hill, a lawyer who had worked with Thomas when he was her supervisor, testified that he had made inappropriate sexual remarks to her, perhaps constituting sexual harassment. President Bush, pressed by conservatives to stick with, and to fight for, the nomination, did so. The bitter process ended with Thomas winning confirmation by a narrow margin, as eleven Democrats voted for his confirmation, while only two Republicans opposed it.

The Bush bashing by many conservatives and the slipping economy brought Bush's popularity plummeting back to earth from the stratosphere, where he once had 85-90% approval. The blood was in the water and the political sharks began circling the figure struggling to stay afloat, George Bush, who now looked more and more vulnerable in the upcoming election.

Next, the 1992 Election  

WORD HISTORY:
Clout-Like its close relatives "clot" and "clod,"^ this word goes back to Indo European "gleuh," which had the notion of "stick together, adhere." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "klaut," with the same general meanings.This then produced Old Germanic "klutaz," which had the notion of  "piece of material" ("something put together"), and also, "material used to cover something." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "clut," meaning "piece of cloth or other material used to cover something." This of course carries the original notion of "fixing or having something adhere to." Later, the meaning "hit" developed, and the Oxford Dictionary makes a good point about the possible origin of this change in meaning, as it notes that a target long ago was likely a piece of cloth or some other object fixed to a tree or post, and that the idea of hitting that target transferred the meaning to "clout," likely first through a verb form, and with the noun then meaning "a hit, a blow." In American English the "hit" idea then developed into the figurative "political power; strong influence" as in, "The mayor has clout with the city council." Its use in English for a "piece of cloth," and a "handkerchief" is now archaic. Of the other Germanic languages still retaining the meaning "cloth" in some form: Danish still has "klud," with the meaning "rag" or "piece of cloth," Icelandic has "klútur," meaning "handkerchief," Norwegian has "klut," meaning "rag." If you have been following this progression so far, from "clot" and "clod" to "clout," you may be able to guess what the next word will be. 

^ See the "Word History" in "It's About Coalitions Not Purity, Part 21" for "clot/clod."
 http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2012/11/its-about-coalitions-not-purity-part_9286.html