AP: Presidential Second Terms Can Be Painful

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041106/ap_on_el_pr/second_term_blues_1

Presidential Second Terms Can Be Painful

20 minutes ago

By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - An upbeat President Bush (news - web sites) set forth an aggressive agenda for the next four years, but he also must deal with the realities his predecessors faced — second terms tend to be disappointments, often marred by scandals, infighting and lackluster performances.

In his second term, Bill Clinton (news - web sites) suffered through impeachment by the House and trial in the Senate after his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. The Iran-Contra scandal and upheaval in his inner circle marred Ronald Reagan (news - web sites)'s second term.

Richard Nixon rode a 49-state landslide into a second term in 1972 and within two years resigned over the Watergate scandal. Dogged by health problems, Republican Dwight Eisenhower watched the Democrats increase their grip on Congress while the Soviet Union took the first leaps in the space race.

"We expect too much. Second-term presidents get careless and cocky. They either overreach, or do something illegal, or don't manage the way they should," said Stephen Wayne, a political science professor at Georgetown University.

more: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041106/ap_on_el_pr/second_term_blues_1

Well, no shit, Sherlock!

Professor 2

FRAUD!

but i'm so looking forward to his scandals.

they made the Big Dawg suffer. Only I want him to crumble like the piece of tinfoil that he is.

bullshit, awol epitomizes careless and cocky, and he
was reelected. They control the WH,Senate, Congress,
Supreme Court, and the "voting machines." it's
us that will find life painful.

Well, we already are living the scandal. I can't wait for the impeachment and resignation or at least one of them. Preferably the latter.

Dems win both houses- already many Dem Senators are looking at going home and running for Governor- If the Dems retake congress- which I also believe to be unlikely. I doubt they would purse impeachment they would be trying to gear things up for A Democratic President. No you got Bush for the full four years I believe. In fact his second term may be easier for him than his first. Anything can happen, but don't be beguiled by dreams.

Bush would have an ABSOLUTLY MISERABLE SECOND TERM!

I don't see Harry Reid doing is job well.

maybe furious george won't do so well after all.

I repug senators and congressman's piss of the people so
much that many of them get kicked out in two years. Of
course we have to have new voting machines or nothing
will change.

"Furthermore, if Bush does get to name several Supreme Court justices, confirmation battles could tie up the Senate for many months, dimming chances for domestic legislation."

Would be nice to tie up Social Security "reform". That's if the Dems have any guts left. I hope so. Gonna lay in a stash of printer ink for this next four years of letter writing.

And he has gotten away with it. Does this mean his second term will be worse?

A smart, less argogant man would realize that if almost half the country voted against him that he should work on fixing some problems that the opposition has voiced concerns over. Unfortunately, he doesn't think that he has made any mistakes and is just going to get worse now that he doesn't have to worry about getting reelected. I wish that those fence sitters who ended up voting for Bush because he was who they already knew would have realized that.

would work on fixing problems if he really cared about the concerns of all citizens in the country. If his reason for wanting the White House really was to govern the country in a responsible manner.

Professor 2

but I like the Nixon scenario bestest!

"We expect too much. Second-term presidents get careless and cocky. They either overreach, or do something illegal, or don't manage the way they should," said Stephen Wayne, a political science professor at Georgetown University.

Bush has never "managed the way he should."

My honest feeling is that Bush's first term was so awful there's almost no way his second term could be worse. All he has to do is avoid another Iraqi-type invasion, and it would be a 1000% improvement.

My actual expectation from Bush is that he will make a half-hearted attempt at making it look like he's doing something, then go on vacation for the rest of the four years. It befits his historical laziness and lack of character. He even said something to this effect, saying "After two years I'll be quacking like a duck," ie, he couldn't get anything done over the last two years of his administration, so why try.

...they had it in for him before he ever got to the White House. Other 2nd -termers had a balanced gov't. The Pukies control the executive, judicial, and legilative branches - NOTHING GWB does will be stopped, considerd illegal, and he will NOT be impeached for it.

for him and his fundy followers. I hope he sells them down the river.

Now that would be fun to watch.

MzPip
:dem:

...remember the photos of him during the campaign. That was the evil starting to break through the skin. He will look 10 times worst than Nixon in his last days.

not to mention the MassMedia™ Branch as well. And oh yeah, in case you haven't noticed, junior installed one of his ops to head the CIA, so they now own the Intelligenge Branch too, and the Dems did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to prevent it.

We need to continually pressure the Democratic so called leadership during the next few years to stand up and fight against shrub. If they want to run for governor or whatever they won't have our votes unless they support us. I don't care if they are running for local dog catcher, support is a two way street.

already the epitome of "careless and cocky"

is as clear to me as if it were yesterday. When the announcement came over my car radio, I was so excited, I had to pull over. I wasn't alone in my excitement. Car horns were blaring all around me in the now RED state, North Carolina.

I was in North Carolina again when I heard that whistle ass had thrown his hat into the presidential ring in 1999. While my very 1st thought was, Ha! He won't make it past the primaries. The thought that folowed was - if he did, then he would go the way of his mentor, Nixon.

I still believe that second thought.

sounds like his FIRST term:evilgrin:

Yeah- it's got to get worse before it gets better. Good thing he was irrelevant this time. but how much more painful can it get for us? I'd love to see * have some pain- real pain like the families of those killed in his stupid war feel. Pain like seniors choosing between food and meds feel. Pain like mothers feel when they can't take their kids to the doctor. Pain like unemployed people feel when their benefits run out. Too painful for us, not nearly painful enough for * and his gang of thieves.

Who? FDR?

Let Georgie Porgie clean up his OWN mess.

This will be fun to watch.

It may well be that the religious supporters will start to think about jobs and social security once they get their ten commandments in the courthouse, and the abortion laws they want. At that point the rich Republicans may no longer have a dependable ally in the poor, religious Republicans.

The day after the "election", there was a group of us in the office discussing the fallout and what to do next. We were all in agreement: this is bad. This is really BAD.

Suddenly, from the reception desk, the office ignoramus stretched her neck around and proclaimed, "This was actually a good thing". This immature girl of 21 epitomizes the hypnotic effect the Bush campaign has had on people.

She is a Fundamentalist Christian who sits in the lunch room and reads out loud from the Bible, "just in case we need to be saved today". She is ignorant, knows nothing about the world in general, other than We are Going To Hell and we'd better get ready for Armageddon quick.

She and her 21-year old husband don't have very much besides their burning beliefs that their Religion is all they really need. They have nothing to speak of. They're certainly not independently wealthy.

And yet they voted wholeheartedly for the man & the party which will assure that they never have much, considering their lack of education. The Wrongpublicans are the party of the Very Wealthy, and they just made sure it stays that way.

if his first term wasn't painful enough then I'd hate to see what his second term is like

to USA>

Um...Bush was like that during his first term. It's only going to get worse.