It would be piling it on too excessively for the Republicans to again use the Rooseveltian theme "Happy Days Are Here Again" for their National Convention in September. The Late Gipper could do so, if only to counter the deep clinical depression (and stoic sense of honor) of the Carter years. "Happy Days Are Here Again" was appropriate for that era because everyone was shutting their senses to grim reality and ingesting vast amounts of cocaine. Today it would just seem ironic, in light of our (ostensibly) chemical-and-sex-free administration.

No, the Republicans need to get back to their basic principles. For their new campaign song, I suggest an up-tempo country version of "Strange Fruit," played perhaps by the Charlie Daniels Band to the tune of "Cotton-Eyed Joe."