Attacking Presidential Vacations

On February 10, 1984, the New York Times reported:

Walter F. Mondale, in his most direct personal attack on President Reagan, said today that Mr. Reagan ''has not applied himself'' to the job of President and ''should get on the plane and come back to Washington'' from his vacation in California to deal with the crisis in Beirut.

''I believe a person cannot run the Presidency in the remote way that he's doing, and I think it's showing,'' the former Vice President, a candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination, said at a news conference outside Independence Hall, where he received the endorsement of W. Wilson Goode, the first black Mayor of Philadelphia.

At another point Mr. Mondale remarked, ''These last two or three days, we've seen basic problems erupt on the national scene. First of all the stock market has been sinking very rapidly. Yesterday the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board testified that we may be in for higher interest rates. The third thing is the disastrous situation in Lebanon where out troops are still in trouble, where it's not clear what our new policies of engagement are.''

''During all this time, the President is on vacation in California, the Secretary of State is in Barbados,'' said the former Vice President. ''Here our nation needs leadership. We need a President in command. We need our questions answered, not just for ourselves but for the world.''

''The Presidency is the toughest job on earth, and it's one where vacations come second,'' said Mr. Mondale. ''If the nation is in trouble, the President of the United States should be at the helm. I recommend today Mr. Reagan get on that plane to come back to Washington and answer our questions.''

Mr. Mondale, asked by a reporter if he was saying that Mr. Reagan was ''lazy,'' replied that it was ''a good question.'' He said the Presidency ''absolutely consumes and devours the person who occupies that office,'' and the nation needed ''a President who understands the complexities of the job and the issues.''

''In my opinion, the President has not applied himself,'' said Mr. Mondale.

Why the GOP Contest Matters

William Galston writes at The New Republic:

In a general election contest against an unpopular incumbent (one with an approval level significantly below 50 percent), the main hurdle that the opposition candidate needs to clear is that of competence. In 1980, for example, voters made their decision in two distinct stages. Between late January and mid-April, Jimmy Carter’s approval rating sank from 58 to 39 percent and never exceeded 43 percent for the remainder of the campaign. This represented stage one, in which the voters concluded that they didn’t want to return Jimmy Carter to the Oval Office for a second term—if they had a reasonable and non-threatening alternative. In the second stage, which occurred immediately after the sole presidential debate, they decided that despite their earlier doubts, Ronald Reagan represented such an alternative. Reagan’s humorous and avuncular affect in the debate dispelled fears that he might be the second coming of Barry Goldwater. To filch a phrase from Mike Huckabee, Reagan was clearly a conservative, but he wasn’t angry about it.

That’s why the Republican contest matters. A bad candidate could still lose in November.

Granted, Mitt Romney is a flawed candidate whose vulnerabilities can be exploited, especially in intra-party combat. But in a general election, he has a better chance than any other Republican of reassuring persuadable voters that he represents a safe and competent alternative to the incumbent. Unless the economic environment changes a lot during the next twelve months, skepticism about Obama’s performance as president should be enough to propel Romney to victory, if not one of landslide proportions.

Republican primary voters, of course, are free to choose whomever they want to serve as their nominee. Early in 1980, let us recall, many Democrats believed that Reagan would be easier to beat than his principal rival—George H. W. Bush—because his brand of conservatism would alienate swing voters. One might argue that history is repeating itself, with Romney filling the role of Bush 41 and Rick Perry starring as Reagan.

Maybe. But having spent more than two years as Walter Mondale’s issues director during his presidential campaign, I got to size up Reagan’s record and political skills. Rick Perry isn’t his equal as governor, and he certainly isn’t his equal as a candidate. If circumstances are dire enough next November, he might win anyway. But I very much doubt it.