November 9, 2006

The Voters' Rational Intuitions

By James Lewis
So the midterms went big against the GOP, even though the Dems didn't have a clear message of their own. Most voters probably couldn't articulate exactly why they voted the way they did. Human beings work by intuition, not usually by some explicit list of reasons.  Just try riding a bicycle without using your intuitive sense of gravity and momentum. You may not know why you wobble left rather than right at a certain moment, but you sense that it's the right thing to do. A lot of the time, those intuitions serve us well. So what reasonable feelings were the voters expressing? Here's my guess. Internationally, the Bush Administration is painting a tough picture about terrorism, proliferation, and new Islamic tyrannies. I happen to believe that this will be their enduring contribution, just as Harry Truman's willingness to face the Cold War was an historic achievement. But hard realities aren't easy to sell.  Truman lost a lot of popularity, and so did George W. For a lot of...(Read Full Article)