2008 VS. …2004
June 16th, 2008, 4:59 pm · 2 Comments · posted by Dan Lehr
Here’s the first in a series we’ve decided to undertake as we dog paddle across this summer, awaiting vice presidential picks & the conventions.
So let’s ask ourselves: how is this campaign different from 2004.. & how is it alike?
The biggest way 2008 resembles 2004 is it is a post-9/11 campaign. That makes this cycle & the last one unlike every other that came before it. Voters this year, as in 2004, have terrorism & national security on their minds, unlike other recent election years like 2000, 1996, & 1992. Unlike 2004, however, Republicans do not have so much of a lock on the electorate who four years ago put greater faith & trust into the Bush administration.
The candidate matchup is different, obviously (2008 is that way with most campaigns you have lived through). There is no incumbent president running, which is the major difference.
From Wikipedia: May 15th, 2004: A Newsweek poll puts Bush’s overall job approval at 42 percent. His approval for handling Iraq dips to 35 percent, compared with 44 percent in April. The poll also shows that in a two way matchup, John Kerry is chosen by 46 percent versus Bush at 45 percent.
At this point (mid-June), the world was mourning the death of Ronald Reagan. Kerry stopped campaigning the week of his funeral out of respect.
2008 is different from 2004 in that we have a generational conflict. One could count McCain as of the baby boomer generation (though not technically - he was born far before that). Obama is the first “post-boomer” to run for president. Back in 2004, it was very much an internicene battle of the boomers with Bush v Kerry.
Like 2004, there is a candidate (McCain) who served in Vietnam (Kerry).
But that didn’t stop Kerry from being attacked:
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It’s in part due to those ads that Obama has launched a “fight-the-smears” section on his website. Kerry failed miserably in responding to those accusations quick enough. He recently said that one of the pieces of advice he gave to Obama was to counter every attack as quickly as possible.
Here’s the final electoral map:
2004 is also relevant in that it was at the Democratic National Convention in which Barack Obama first stepped onto the national stage:
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Those are just some preliminary musings.. did I leave any comparing/contrasting out? What do you think? Weigh in by posting a comment!
June 18th, 2008 at 10:01 am
great reasoning. McCain is not a Boomer but you want to call him a Boomer, Obama is a Boomer but you don’t want to call them that. and everything comes together. the new American logic!
June 18th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Well.. technically you’re right, Stewart. The baby boom generation was born between 1946 & 1964.
But when I characterize the two of them as of or not of the baby boom generation, I’m speaking more in cultural terms. McCain’s early life is defined by his participation in Vietnam in the 1960s. Obama, even though technically a baby boomer, did not come of age until after the turbulent 60s & early 70s were over. It is not a trait that defines who he is. Again, I’m defining things in cultural terms here. But you’re right.