Skip to main content
The Web    CNN.com      Powered by
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SERVICES
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SEARCH
Web CNN.com
powered by Yahoo!
U.S.

Like father, like son?

From the "Wolf Blitzer Reports" staff

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
Wolf Blitzer Reports
George W. Bush

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It's like father, like son -- up to a point. Both George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, and George W. Bush, the 43rd president, ran for and won the highest office in the U.S. government.

But only George W. Bush won the victory his father fought hard for but failed to achieve -- re-election and a second inauguration.

Why did the father fail where the son succeeded?

Besides the one advantage all sitting presidents seeking re-election enjoy, the power of incumbency, most analysts cite several other key reasons why George W. Bush won and his father lost.

Both George H.W. Bush and his son fought wars against Saddam Hussein. And both could claim success.

The first President Bush drove Saddam out of Kuwait, but some analysts and critics say he let the Iraqi dictator off the hook by not sending the allied forces into Iraq to capture him.

"I can report to the nation, aggression is defeated, the war is over," President George H.W. Bush told the United States at the end of the Persian Gulf War.

George W. Bush developed a very different war strategy.

After the September 11 attacks, Bush declared a war on terror and first went after al Qaeda by invading Afghanistan.

Next, his administration insisted Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and suggested there may be a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. The president ordered the invasion of Iraq with fewer allies than his father had -- the so-called coalition of the willing.

Not only was Saddam taken from power, he was also captured.

"And now the former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions," President Bush said after Saddams's capture in December 2003.

Bush has never wavered in his decision to go to war with Iraq.

"I'll continue to be straightforward and plainspoken about my view that freedom is necessary for peace and that everyone deserves to be free," the president said recently.

During the 2004 campaign, he was criticized by John Kerry on the failure to find weapons of mass destruction; on his failure to prove without a doubt there was a link between Saddam and Osama bin Laden; and his failure so far to stabilize Iraq.

"He rushed to war without a plan to win the peace," Kerry said on the campaign trail.

But what Kerry saw as failure, many Americans saw as strong leadership, at least the 51 percent who voted for Bush. The one category in which John Kerry was never able surge ahead of Bush in the polls was being a strong leader.

Some political analysts also argue another Kerry disadvantage was that he was no Bill Clinton, the master politician who defeated the first President Bush in 1992. Unlike Clinton, Kerry failed to win enough moderate red state voters, and failed to prevent some conservative Democrats from voting for Bush.

The economy was another factor that didn't torpedo Bush's second campaign like it did his father's.

"Read my lips: No new taxes," then-presidential candidate George H.W. Bush said in November 1988.

Much to his regret, he later raised taxes.

And when he hit the re-election campaign trail, the economy was working against him, something his opponent reminded voters time and time again.

"The mistake that was made was making the 'read my lips' promise in the first place, just to get elected," Bill Clinton said while running against the elder Bush.

George W. Bush also had to deal with a shaky economy during his campaign. But by then the recession was over and his surrogates were masterful in arguing that conditions were good for most Americans and would only get better with Bush in office four more years.

Finally, there was the personality difference between father and son.

Many saw the senior Bush, a Yale graduate and high-brow Episcopalian, as an elitist who didn't know how to communicate with ordinary people.

George W. Bush, also a Yale graduate, is a proud born-again Christian and appears more comfortable in cowboy boots and jeans at his Texas ranch than in a suit and tie at the White House.


Story Tools
Subscribe to Time for $1.99 cover
Top Stories
Father guilty of killing 9 of his children
Top Stories
CNN/Money: Security alert issued for 40 million credit cards
Search JobsMORE OPTIONS


 

International Edition
CNN TV CNN International Headline News Transcripts Advertise With Us About Us
SEARCH
   The Web    CNN.com     
Powered by
© 2005 Cable News Network LP, LLLP.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us.
external link
All external sites will open in a new browser.
CNN.com does not endorse external sites.
 Premium content icon Denotes premium content.
Add RSS headlines.