Reality Slate

All the way back to Johnson and McGovern the liberal baby-boomer generation has been waiting for their President and it seem that the, much awaited, day has come. The have been hoping for a President who shares the view of the world that the Baby-Boomer Liberals have been been talking about since the Vietnam War. In this world view the U.S. is an imperialist, evil country. In the Sixties Kid view, the U.S. ignores and exploits the poor, at home and abroad. They believe that a benevolent government can spread 'aid' to the poor, after taking the 'aid' from wealthy Americans, and after the 'aid' is distributed, we will all live in a loving world of no poor, and no war.

The Sixties Kids had a time when they felt that they could change the world. After violent riots to protest the 'evil' Vietnam war, there was a time when they believed that the world that had been moving in a direction of the unfairness of capitalism. Only an enlightened movement, espoused by the Sixties Kids, could heal the ailing earth. They the Sixties Kids have had no luck in achieving a U.S. President who can truly change the world into the utopia they had hoped for.

McGovern was the first presidential candidate who identified with the Liberal Baby-Boomer world view. There was a ground swell of excitement around the McGovern campaign. He was a man who said all the idealist rhetoric that the 'Kids' had been hoping to hear. McGovern's campaign orchestrated mass young voter registration drives at college campuses, the home for liberal idealism, and the campaign had an almost cult-like following.

McGovern, they believed, could make up the shortfalls of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Kennedy, of course, had been killed before he could change the world. (Liberal Baby-Boomers ignore the fact the Kennedy was a moderate who, had committed troops to Southeast Asia and was the first president to significantly cut FDR's benevolent income taxes.) Johnson had idealistic potential, with the Great Society era war on poverty. He wisely invoked nuclear war and the saving grace of the U.N. to defeat the war-monger Goldwater, but he did keep troops in Vietnam, so he could not be counted as a Sixties Kid hero.

Alas McGovern was defeated by the evil Richard Nixon, and many of the 'Kids' lamented the end of 'the era of love.'

Carter was seen by the Sixties Kid's as having the idealist world view potential. He spent a whole bunch of money on the poor; he met with world leaders, especially in the Middle East and ushered in a time of understanding. He even gave the Panama Canal to Panama. Carter pushed for higher fuel efficiency standards and sent 'aid to undeserved' and underdeveloped countries, but he pushed for the U.S. to utilize natural resources like oil reserves, Carter signed the bill to set ANWR aside for exploration , plus he was overtly religious, so his designation as a Sixties Kid hero is, at best, dubious.

Carter only served one term and then came twelve years of 'the dark times' for liberal idealism the Reagan/Bush era. This time was so dark for Sixties Kids that they saw attacks on the peaceful regime of Qaddafi in Libya, U.S. funded wars on leftists in South America, a proxy war against the Soviets in Afghanistan and sweeping tax cuts. The speaker of the house, O'neal, who should have stood up to idealist principles, working with Reagan, and that was only in the first eight years. If one then adds the first war on Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of Talk Radio, in the next four years, the Reagan/Bush era is a time of great Sixties Kid horror. Then topped off by Reagan and Bush having landslide victories over potential Liberal Idealist heroes like Micheal Dukakis and Walter Mondale. Mondale, achieved the title of Bay-Boomer liberal icon when his V.P. pick was a woman. To this day the Sixties Kid's view the Reagan/Bush era with disdain.

Clinton was a breath of fresh air after after the 80's and early 90's with horrible Republican Presidents. Clinton had Kennedyesque charm and delicious rhetoric that caused the liberal Baby-Boomer contingent to swoon.

The problems, however, for a new day of a more Ideal world view, started quickly. Universal Health Care was defeated while Talk Radio was growing in influence. Then disaster struck, for the Sixties Kids, in 94' when Gingrich and the Republicans swept into the House of Representatives and pushed through an agenda that made the Liberal Ideal World View seem even more distant.

For the Liberal Ideal World View, the Clinton Era is a mixed bag. He did pass an Assault Weapons Ban; and spent a tremendous amount of time talking peace with Yasser Arafat and with Northern Ireland leaders. These accomplishments are great from the Sixties Kids perspective, but there was plenty of downside to the Clinton Era. A Gingrich brokered balanced budget, Welfare Reform, troops in Bosnia and Kosovo and far too cozy of a relationship with big business, causing the Liberal Baby-Boomers to pause at their reflections of the Clinton 90's.

The Bush Era spelled utter disaster to the 'Kids.' Bush's "War on Terror" is only met with Liberal Idealist hatred. For the Sixties Kids, Bush's popularity was simple exasperating. They saw a bumbling cowboy who spoke plainly about his belief in God, and a clear line of good and evil in the world. Even when Bush had more liberal plans the Baby-Boomer Liberals had nothing positive to say. For them the only bright spot in the the era of W. was when the House of Representatives was finally being controlled by a Sixty Kid Feminist in Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the house.

Now Sixties Kids Can breath a collective sigh of relief. They finally have a President that shares their Liberal Ideal World View, he is pushing for Universal Heath Care again, The "War on Terror" is in the past, corporations are finally seen as evil, as are Wall Street types, stricter laws on firearms are coming, unions could make a comeback, the Green agenda is being forced on the country and the Congress is rubber stamping anything that the administration wants.

What lessons are to be learned about past Liberal Idealist attempts at the Presidency? How did this administration finally achieved the long awaited goal of a Liberal Baby Boomer approved Presidency? The answers are many but brilliantly simple.

• 'The sky is falling' will get you elected. The Clinton Administration learned this but this administration was much better at getting a big spending agenda. If the administration screams that 'the sky is falling' then a bill can be passed that will repay every supporter group in the country.

• Mondale actually said that he would raise the deficit to pay for his Liberal agenda. This was naive to say the least. The current administration has taught us that if the deficit will rapidly increase, you only have to deny it and say that it will be cut in half by some arbitrary date, and then blame the deficit, which your administration made worse, on the last administration.

• Use simple terms. If Dukakis and Kerry taught us anything, it is that big words scare people. Little words are the way to go, preferably one syllable if possible i.e, 'Hope,' 'Change,'etc.

• People like to pay fewer taxes, so tell them that they will, while the average person, will pay more in goods and services, due to higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy few. A tax credit is something that was once given to people who pay taxes, but one can rename a tax credit for money that you give to people who don't pay taxes. (This point is one that the Sixties Kids love.)

• The Clinton Era bipartisanship didn't advance the Liberal World View enough, so rename bipartisanship to when a few in the other party agree with your agenda. There is no need to show compromise like Clinton did especially when it doesn't advance your liberal agenda.

• Terms like responsibility, fiscal prudence, and toughness, are words that most conservatives like, but redefine them to meet your agenda so theses words can justify nearly anything.

The end lesson of the forty year aspiration of electing a Sixties Kid approved president, is that the candidate must mask intentions and perspectives. Only when elected can the new leader start pushing the agenda of the Ideal Liberal World View. Once the agenda is being achieved, one simply has to deny pushing it and explain that the objectives are to fix a crisis. If people do catch on to what the agenda really is, than say things like ' hey...I was elected to promote change.' (Note the use of a one syllable, nondescript word.)