October 5, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Tanzania: Politics: State Government: Dayton Daily News: A poll by The Columbus Dispatch puts the governor's approval rating at 15 percent. This, for all analytical purposes, is below zero. Richard Nixon himself didn't go this low
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October 5, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Tanzania: Politics: State Government: Dayton Daily News: A poll by The Columbus Dispatch puts the governor's approval rating at 15 percent. This, for all analytical purposes, is below zero. Richard Nixon himself didn't go this low
A poll by The Columbus Dispatch puts the governor's approval rating at 15 percent. This, for all analytical purposes, is below zero. Richard Nixon himself didn't go this low
Maybe Taft is really as peculiarly inept as everybody is saying. His current do-nothing strategy -- if you can call it a strategy -- suggests that. When you might expect some sort of effort at redefining himself, using the still ample resources of the governorship, you just get a defeatist silence. Ohio Governor Robert Taft served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania in the 1960's.
A poll by The Columbus Dispatch puts the governor's approval rating at 15 percent. This, for all analytical purposes, is below zero. Richard Nixon himself didn't go this low
What's special about Bob Taft? ; Those poll ratings demand a look
Oct 5, 2005 - Dayton Daily News
Re Gov. Bob Taft's ludicrous poll ratings, the question arises: How did this most inoffensive of political men, this moderate, well- meaning, solutionoriented, somewhat wonkish government professional become the most unpopular American since that woman who taped her phone calls with Monica Lewinsky?
By failing to do the paperwork after his golf games? Come on.
That's what he got in trouble with the law for. He didn't report gifts.
A poll by The Columbus Dispatch puts the governor's approval rating at 15 percent. This, for all analytical purposes, is below zero. Richard Nixon himself didn't go this low; and if the charge against Nixon was failing to do the paperwork, he wouldn't have gone below 50.
To have the title of governor (which tends to make some people think you might be OK), and to have a label like Republican or Democrat (which is typically enough for some people) and to, nevertheless, have a poll rating that is dipping near single digits, is to become an object of study for a generation to come.
True, not many governors are convicted on four ethics charges. But imagine what would happen if such charges were successfully brought against certain other politicians. Say George W. Bush or Bill Clinton. Or Tom DeLay.
Nobody really believes that Taft got in trouble because he is somehow worse than those guys.
Suppose that some large group now stood up for Taft. Suppose it made a great big fuss, saying the law that was used against him is ridiculous, or that Democrats do what he did all the time, or that the prosecution was politically motivated. Or suppose it said, sure, he made a mistake, but harping on it is the opposition's way of weakening him, because of what he stands for.
Suppose, in short, we were hearing any of that talk-show crud that often happens when a controversial figure gets in trouble.
It would all be nonsense, of course. But bigger piles of nonsense arise all the time. People carry on like this about Tom De-Lay, though he has never been out of ethical trouble for more than 45 consecutive minutes.
And such defensive efforts matter.
The force that typically prevents a politician from dipping below, say, 35 percent in approval ratings is partisanship. People stick with their guy.
What's happening in the Taft case, is that Republicans are abandoning him.
Conservative leaders trash him all over the place. Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell can't get far enough from him. Other Republican candidates for governor distance themselves. And nobody steps into the breach. In the media, in Columbus, in national Republican and conservative circles, on the street, Taft goes undefended.
The lesson here is not that, if you're a politician you had better do your paperwork when somebody pays for your golf game. It is that you had better cultivate a base that is so strongly committed to you that it will insist that the world cut you some slack.
Taft's problem, in short -- well, one of them -- is that he's not Republican enough. The former Peace Corps volunteer doesn't seem to have the faith. The causes he associates himself with -- his "Third Frontier" being classic -- don't float any partisan boats.
When he moved to cut topend income taxes, he muddied the message by creating a new business tax. The overall balance might have been right from a good-government perspective, but balance is just balance.
In truth, Taft's poll problems pre-date his ethics problems. One national poll had him at 18 percent before all this, though others had him somewhat higher.
Whatever causes specific dips, the point is clear: There's no such thing as a Taft Republican, at least no such visible thing.
Maybe Taft is really as peculiarly inept as everybody is saying. His current do-nothing strategy -- if you can call it a strategy -- suggests that. When you might expect some sort of effort at redefining himself, using the still ample resources of the governorship, you just get a defeatist silence.
But for a guy who is peculiarly inept, he's done pretty well in politics, beating an incumbent for secretary of state, then winning the governorship and winning it again, easily.
At any rate, the sad part about how it's ending is that the Bob Taft story is likely to drive other politicians toward rigidity in alliance with certain groups, toward mindless friendship. The message is that you need somebody to defend you when you mess up. Bob Taft has almost nobody.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News. He may be reached at 225-2288 or by e-mail at mgottlieb@ DaytonDailyNews.com.
When this story was posted in November 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: Dayton Daily News
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Tanzania; Politics; State Government
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