Look at the declining television coverage. Look at the declining voting rate. Economics and economic news is what moves the country now, not politics.
The President's political travel is going to get blamed (and probably rightly) for a share of this downturn.
Many citizens see all the leadership of these large institutions together in a conspiracy against them rather than in any adversary relationship with each other.
This is easy to say with the benefit of hindsight, but I think it once again points out how very important style of leadership, that is the way he does what he does, is to his perception.
It is my belief that it is not the fact that he traveled as much as he did during the past few months as much as what he said and how he said it that hurt him.
Also the fact that anything he does is seen and heard by the entire country, not just his actual audience or those who live in the region he happens to be in.
Every person has only so much attention to give, and politics and government takes up only a fraction of what it did 25 years ago.
The President, the Administration and the campaign need a theme. I am concerned that the President is seen as a tactician without an overall strategy of his plan for the country.
As the society has gotten larger and more complex, individuals have lost their ability to influence any of the institutions that affect their lives.
Research has shown that the perceived style of leadership is by far the most important thing to most voters in evaluating officeholders and candidates.
People feel that decisions about their jobs, the way their children are educated, how their church functions, and products they buy are made by someone and some place so distant that they can't find anybody to talk to that has any influence over them.
Most of the things that need to be said about the President are things he can't say himself.
I think we need one recognized, respected public figure to make a tough, blunt statement on just what Reagan's record is and what he might do to the country, let alone the Republican Party before Christmas.
Whatever he does should be seen as working at the Presidency and if he goes to Colorado for Christmas, it should be for a minimum amount of time, the family tradition and family get-together aspect emphasized, and it be seen as a working vacation.
Another cause for the increase in alienation and cynicism is a feeling that too many policy decisions that affect individuals have been taken out of any system that has accountability or that they can influence.
This has resulted in more and more people becoming inner-directed and having as their only goal, getting as much as they can get out of the system and putting as little into it as possible
People just automatically say 'If this guy is George and Barbara Bush's son, we don't have any question about those personal qualities that we were fooled on by Clinton.'
