From The Boston Globe
By Roland Merullo

In the midst of this remarkable campaign for the presidency, it continues to amaze me that some people still want to talk about issues. By now, all but the most naive first-time voter must realize that what’s important is not where the candidates stand on healthcare or job creation, but whether or not they would be fun to have a beer with. I mean, do you really think Al Gore or John Kerry would have made a better president than the affable fellow we have in there now? Would you seriously want to have Gore over to your house for dinner and Monday night football? Are you really saying you’d want to sit down in front of “American Idol” with JK instead of GWB?

You would think, listening to these types, that the country was in some kind of trouble.

We are clearly winning the war, which proves it was a smart and just war to begin with. Pretty much everyone I know still goes on vacation every summer, still drives a nice car, still manages to put some money away for their later years. Crime is pretty low. Gas is cheaper than it was recently. It was so cold at one of my country houses the other night that the idea of global warming has become pretty hard to swallow.

These same types - “Issueists” I want to call them, and some of them are my friends - insist on negativity. Yes, sure, a bunch of nerdy scientists talk about the earth burning up, more cockroaches, fewer trees, no polar bears, and so on. Yes, right, there has been a blip in the economy, with a few medium-sized companies getting bailed out. That happens, people. Last time I looked we were a free-market system, and the market is going to have its cycles just like the climate does. Osama is still running loose, true. And there are some other bad guys out there who want to do us harm. But Bush seems to have dealt with them OK so far, and he’s fun to be around at the same time. You don’t see him getting bogged down in complicated explanations for things. You don’t see his sense of humor withering in the heat of the Oval Office. You don’t see Dick Cheney wringing his hands and putting off hunting trips until his term is over.

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