September 27, 2002
From the desk of Jane Galt:So why did Al Gore
So why did Al Gore make that speech last Thursday, which most commentators, conservative and liberal, seem to agree put the Dems between a rock and a hard place? Well, I think it's because he thinks -- correctly -- that his only hope of getting the nomination again is to run to the left.
Moderate Democrats aren't going to nominate him again; they're interested in getting power for the Democrats so that they can enact a platform only modestly different from what would be enacted under the Republicans. They aren't going to take a risk on a man who lost the Clinton legacy to Shrub; they're going to nominate someone fresh, like John Edwards. In this case, better the devil you don't know than the loser you know all too well.
It's the party faithful, who would have felt nearly as hurt by the events in Florida if Dilbert had been the party nominee, to whom Al Gore must look. They're considerably to the left of the moderates who formed his base last time. His other hope is capturing the primary votes of the dyed-in-the-wool liberals, the ones who believe that the Republicans not only lied, cheated, and stole to win the election, but also no doubt sacrificed innocent Democratic babies to their fiery god. They're angry about Florida, angry at the party leadership because we don't have national health care yet, and welfare reform is still here, and the state hasn't withered away in time for true Communism to arrive before Friends is on. And they're madder than a wet hen about the war. They're also in favor of candidates that have the same kind of broad, national appeal as Walter Mondale, but no matter; for Al Gore, it's them or nothing.
So he's going on the attack. Consistency? It doesn't matter whether he's consistent. His potential supporters don't care whether he believes what he's saying; what they care is that he goes on the record saying it. Al Gore is trying to build a Reagan-style revolution, getting grassroots support to wrest control of the party from the moderates who are setting policy now.
I can kind of see where he's coming from. The moderate Republicans of Reagan's era were substantively indistinguishable from the Democrats; it was to Nixon we looked for price controls, massive expansion of federal entitlements, and foolhardy industrial policies. I can see how he tells himself that with the moderate Democratic leadership it's exactly the same thing now.
Except. Except that Reagan was selling his platform on low taxes, something almost everyone's in favor of; and regardless of what you think of his platform, he actually had one. Al Gore's speech is full of vague platitudes rather than specific proposals. And he's staking his candidacy on criticizing a highly popular president on the subject of a highly popular war. It may get him the nomination, though I doubt it, but it will certainly cost him the election. Not to mention drive another nail into the coffin of the left wing of the Democratic party. Although to be fair, I can see how another run could unify the party like never before -- in their dislike of the man who lost them the presidency twice.
Posted by Jane Galt at September 27, 2002 6:19 PM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound links"); ?>