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2020 race doesn't compare to Bush-Dukakis in '88 (Boston Herald)
By JONAH GOLDBERG |
August 27, 2020 at 5:56 a.m.
In July 1988, Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis enjoyed a 17-point lead against Vice President George H.W. Bush in a Gallup poll. But Bush went on to crush Dukakis, taking 40 states and winning by seven percentage points. He did so by running an aggressive — critics would say demagogic — scorched-earth campaign against the then-Massachusetts governor.
It’s been fun to watch Republicans and Democrats alike invoke the Bush-Dukakis race this summer. It began with Republicans, when Trump’s poll numbers started to sink like a bulldog in a bathtub. Keep hope alive, Team Trump insisted. Bush came back from worse.
Now, with Trump’s slight recovery in recent polls and the start of the GOP convention — which, according to lore, initiated Bush’s ’88 comeback — Democrats have been pointing to the story as a “we can still blow this” cautionary tale. As if the party of Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Al Gore needed a 32-year-old history lesson on that score.
Beyond basic generalities — polls can be ephemeral, campaigns can have comebacks, etc. — the contrast between 2020 and 1988, not to mention between Bush and Trump or Biden and Dukakis, makes the whole thing feel as forced and ridiculous as comparisons of, say, Trump and Winston Churchill.
Indeed, the only thing useful in the Biden-Dukakis comparison is to consider how much things have changed since 1988.
Sure, Biden is a flawed candidate, but his foibles aren’t those of Dukakis. The Massachusetts governor was a bloodless technocrat who famously couldn’t muster even hypothetical passion when asked in a debate what he’d do if his wife were raped and murdered. He was also relatively unknown to many voters and thus easily defined by the opposition. Say what you will about Biden, but most people think they know who he is after his eight years as vice president and more than 40 years in public life.
It’s been fun to watch Republicans and Democrats alike invoke the Bush-Dukakis race this summer. It began with Republicans, when Trump’s poll numbers started to sink like a bulldog in a bathtub. Keep hope alive, Team Trump insisted. Bush came back from worse.
Now, with Trump’s slight recovery in recent polls and the start of the GOP convention — which, according to lore, initiated Bush’s ’88 comeback — Democrats have been pointing to the story as a “we can still blow this” cautionary tale. As if the party of Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Al Gore needed a 32-year-old history lesson on that score.
Beyond basic generalities — polls can be ephemeral, campaigns can have comebacks, etc. — the contrast between 2020 and 1988, not to mention between Bush and Trump or Biden and Dukakis, makes the whole thing feel as forced and ridiculous as comparisons of, say, Trump and Winston Churchill.
Indeed, the only thing useful in the Biden-Dukakis comparison is to consider how much things have changed since 1988.
Sure, Biden is a flawed candidate, but his foibles aren’t those of Dukakis. The Massachusetts governor was a bloodless technocrat who famously couldn’t muster even hypothetical passion when asked in a debate what he’d do if his wife were raped and murdered. He was also relatively unknown to many voters and thus easily defined by the opposition. Say what you will about Biden, but most people think they know who he is after his eight years as vice president and more than 40 years in public life.
Read more: https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/08/27/2020-race-doesnt-compare-to-bush-dukakis-in-88/
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