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Posted on 05/05/2003 2:12:49 PM PDT by WaveThatFlag
Highlight of the joint appearance of nine declared Democratic presidential candidates at the South Carolina fish fry came when the moderator, George Stephanopoulos, asked Senator Joe Lieberman if he was "too nice" to be president.
That type of query about a lack of fierceness is known in our dodge as "the Dukakis trap." Lieberman was ready with a mock-serious "I'd like to come over there and strangle you, George," a Reaganesque response that drew the evening's biggest laugh.
The 90-minute program began at 9 p.m Saturday in the East, after sundown, in deference to Lieberman's reluctance to campaign on the Sabbath (self-restraint that endears him not just to Orthodox Jews but also to Christian evangelicals).
ABC News, apparently with a stranglehold sponsorship of the Democratic Party, blocked voters from seeing the opening of primary season live that night on C-Span. But credit the producers with avoiding a speechifying "beauty contest," going directly to the need of each of the candidates to make a national impression in a hurry.
ABC designed the opening segment to capture attention by setting former Gov. Howard Dean and Senator John Kerry at each other's throats. Dean had earlier derogated Kerry's political courage in not forthrightly opposing the recent war, which the Vietnam-heroic Kerry shrewdly escalated into an attack on his personal courage. Later, when Lieberman said "no Democrat will be elected president in 2004 who is not strong on defense," Kerry again used the political technique known as waving the bloody shirt: "I'm the only person running for this job who's actually fought in a war. I'm not `ambivalent' about the war, Joe."
The segment that required candidates to question one another allowed Representative Dick Gephardt to shine. His plan to raise taxes to subsidize corporations' providing health care to workers separates him from the pack. As a hawk on the war, Gephardt needed an issue to appeal to the Democratic antiwar left, and was clearly delighted when his opponents had to wriggle away from his unabashed tax-and-spend proposal.
But all candidates knew their purpose was less to present positions than to make a good impression. The best opportunity to shake hands with the public came in the show's portion devoted to answering "the rap" on each of them, charges posed with a mix of candor and kindness by Stephanopoulos.
Kerry — are you too aloof, lacking the common touch? He slipped past that knock, recalling his war record. Senator Bob Graham — really running for V.P.? He said he was a centrist, "from the electable wing of the Democratic Party" — a play on Dean's leftist "Democratic wing" — and he stressed that only Democratic Southerners (L.B.J., Carter, Clinton) have won recently.
That brought to bat Carolinian John Edwards — too inexperienced? His non-response was that he was the first in his working-class family to go to college, a populist pitch that got Joe Biden into trouble when he stole that line from a British politician. (Edwards kept chopping the air with a stiff-fingered hand; if he's imitating J.F.K., he should soften the gesture by curling the fingers and pointing with his thumb.)
Governor Dean, also charged with inexperience, reminded us that governors go all the way (Bush II, Clinton, Reagan, Carter), but he seemed testy and defensive. Dovish Representative Dennis Kucinich, zapped as leading Cleveland into bankruptcy as its mayor, gutsily claimed that default as a "badge of honor" but had to read his closing statement — always a sign of unreadiness for prime time.
Al Sharpton — racial polarizer? No more than Jesse Jackson, he said, evidently aspiring to that power brokerage. Carol Moseley Braun — since you can't win, are you in it to siphon votes from Sharpton? (The answer is in the question.) Her answer was to stress running as a woman and a black; her cheerful, intelligent demeanor must be reassuring to Democrats worried about Sharpton.
Toughest shot came at Gephardt: are you the new Bob Dole, around the track too often? The unflappable pro handled that with good humor, followed by an impassioned "fighting for working families is in my bones," making his face somewhat fresher.
So who won this Derby, besides George? Lieberman and Gephardt finished in a dead heat, with Kerry closing and Edwards off the pace. I'm ready for the Preakness.
. Don't you know, Bill, that gambling is now forbidden to Republicans/Conservatives? Or is that just to people named "Bill?"
-PJ
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