PERSPECTIVES ON ROSS PEROT : He Gave the System a Good Shaking : How has the would-be third candidate’s presence in--and now absence from--the race affected our political life?
He was the first to realize and take advantage of three things happening in American politics. The first is the weakening, if not the collapse, of the two-party system.
Second, he was the first postmodern candidate because his candidacy was born on cable TV and nurtured on soft-news talk shows. And in some respects, it had more in common with Jimmy Swaggert and Oral Roberts rather than Bush and Clinton. People turned to him for salvation--on cable TV.
Third is his main program, the electronic town hall. His one novel idea, and he’s right about it.
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