Echoes

President Bush's predecessor, despite leaving office as the most popular two-term president since Eisenhower, left the country deeply divided.

The previous president was a man of enormous charisma who had presided over years of economic expansion and was beloved by a majority of Americans. But he was also deeply distrusted and hated by about a third of the country because of eight long years of demonizing attacks.

George Bush was elected, in part, because he campaigned on the promise that his presidency would unite the country after years of the office being hobbled by such polarizing attacks. Despite the fact that his campaign recycled some of the old venom, the American people hoped that his vision of a "kinder, gentler America" might become real, and so they elected George H.W. Bush president in 1988.

Skip ahead 12 years.

President Bush's predecessor, despite leaving office as the most popular two-term president since Eisenhower, left the country deeply divided.

The previous president was a man of enormous charisma who had presided over years of economic expansion and was beloved by a majority of Americans. But he was also deeply distrusted and hated by about a third of the country because of eight long years of demonizing attacks.

George Bush was elected, in part, because he campaigned on the promise that his presidency would unite the country after years of the office being hobbled by such polarizing attacks. Despite the fact that his campaign recycled some of the old venom, the American people hoped that his pledge to be a "uniter, not a divider" might be real and so nearly half of them voted for George W. Bush in 2000.

The parallels are remarkable, with one important difference: the focus of those demonizing attacks. During the Reagan years, the White House was the source of those attacks and the targets were everyone from poor women ("welfare queens") to environmentalists to unions. During the Clinton years, the White House was the target.