Candidates in Search of Economics

Whatever the ultimate outcome of the 1992 presidential campaign, the terrain on which the campaign is being conducted differs greatly from that of any recent election—and in ways that should favor the Democrats. This first post–cold war election takes place amid a recession. That’s a dangerous combination for George Bush: not since the thirties have voters placed so little emphasis on the “commander-in-chief ” aspect of the presidency.
More than that, the breakup of the Soviet Union precludes a traditional Republican recovery a la 1982. Republicans can no longer reflate the economy through the military Keynesianism of arms spending, the strategy they employed for decades to bolster the economy of the Sunbelt in particular.

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