The Bush hate game: TIE asked a top Democratic analyst why the animosity toward the 43rd President is so great.

AuthorCook, Charles E., Jr.

It really is a remarkable phenomenon that we are now seeing in the United States the same degree of hatred among Democrats and liberals toward President Bush that we saw among Republicans and conservatives toward President Clinton during his presidency. In fact, one year before facing reelection, President Bush actually had a lower Gallup Poll job approval rating among Democrats than President Clinton had among Republicans at the same point in his presidency. Think about all of this historical context. As a long-time Washington observer, I am quite sure I never met anyone who personally hated President George H.W. Bush. I knew some Democrats who hated many of President Reagan's policies, but I'm not sure I met any who truly hated President Reagan. I knew quite a few Republicans who thought that President Carter was weak and indecisive, but not any who truly hated President Carter. I know I never met anyone who hated President Ford. You really have to go back to Democrats loathing President Nixon and Republicans hating President Franklin Roosevelt to find widespread numbers of people in one political party despising a president from the other party, and now we have seen that in back-to-back presidencies.

While some would argue that this phenomenon is a part of our times, a new "in-your-face" mentality, most certainly it is an outgrowth of the advent of overheated radio talk show rhetoric, the endless number of televised "food fights" on cable networks, and highly partisan and ideological Web sites, where partisans and ideologues can get their venom injections without dilution by facts and fairness, with no contradictory views allowed. Inconvenient facts and extenuating circumstances that get in the way are simply not heard.

For the current President Bush, some of the antipathy toward him no doubt goes back to the contested 2000 election results in Florida, with some Democrats still convinced that the election was stolen. Other Bush detractors point to stylistic differences, while his Texas "swagger" and cowboy-like bravado and language set off still others. The war with Iraq and Bush's low regard for multilateral organizations irritate still more.

As a practical matter, the near-unanimity of approval that President Bush receives among Republicans and conservatives effectively constructs for him a very high floor, a base of support that it is difficult to fall below. At the same time, the extraordinary degree of opposition to Bush among...

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