Jewish World Review August 23, 2000 / 22 Menachem-Av, 5760
David Limbaugh
Al Gore's trickle-down populism
http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
HAS THE BUSH CAMPAIGN been crippled by the Gore freight
train? I think not, but Gore's temporary convention
bounce should serve as a wake-up call and an antidote
for overconfidence for the Bush camp.
Last week's events in Los Angeles were very odd, to say
the least. Granted, people have short memories, but,
regarding the Democrat convention, we're talking
wholesale amnesia. Throughout the week leading up to
the main event analysts were almost unanimous in
declaring the convention a flop -- especially when
compared with the nearly flawless Republican one a few
weeks earlier. Then Gore gave his speech.
My reaction was that it was an insultingly populist rant.
Surely not that many people are going to fall for this, I
thought to myself. I noticed that most talking heads were
initially unimpressed as well.
The first post-convention polls revealed no significant
bump for Gore. Then, things started to change. New
polls showed an astronomical bounce for Gore. One
pre-convention poll had Bush ahead by 16 points.
Afterwards, another one had him behind by 6,
representing a 22-point swing. That's amazing,
particularly for such a lackluster convention.
As the polls evolved, so did many pundits' opinions --
retroactively, no less. They wanted us to believe that they
had adjudged Gore's speech effective all along. They said
Gore needed to hit a home run, and he did. What an
insult to Mark McGwire.
I've read some of the poll analyses, and they strike me as
unintelligible. They say that Gore finally carved out his
own niche by distancing himself from Clinton and
emerging as his own man. I'm not buying it. That's way
too sophisticated an analysis.
The commentators' initial reaction (the negative one) was
that Gore made a mistake by appealing to the Old
Guard, the extreme left wing of the party. They said that
as much as he needed to break away from Clinton in
certain areas, i.e., integrity, he should have emphasized
centrist, New Democrat themes to reach swing voters.
Without question, Gore blew off the center and went
straight for his liberal base, but when we focus on this
New vs. Old Democrat distinction I believe we're missing
the boat.
On closer inspection, Gore did not stray far from the
Clinton reservation. Forget the New Democrat thing.
Clinton's political magic has never been in the substance
of his policy proposals, but in marketing himself and the
issues. The issues themselves have always been
secondary. The common denominator between Clinton's
campaigns and the new Gore campaign is the
class-warfare theme. Clinton-Gore called it trickle-down
economics. Gore-Lieberman are calling it the powerful
versus the people. It's the same old divisive tune, and it
works.
Democrats were using this strategy way before Clinton,
but Clinton and Gore have taken it to a new level. It used
to be a device mainly geared to campaigns. Now it is
also a credo for governance. That's the scariest thing
about the Clinton-Gore legacy and the most compelling
reason that Gore must be defeated. America simply
cannot long survive as a republic -- at least not as a great
one -- with this relentless pitting of people against people.
It is a guaranteed formula to complete our transformation
from a harmonious melting pot to a balkanized nanny
state.
Because swing voters are politically impressionable, Bush
is going to have to do some educating. He should
continue to stress themes of freedom and self-reliance
(with a touch of compassion -- "every willing heart")
because he's never going to out-promise Santa Gore.
The campaign is going to get dirty, and the media will
mainly blame Bush. Gore will continue to tell his tall tales
and trumpet polarizing themes. The further behind he falls
-- he'll revert to being behind when his "bounce" settles --
the nastier he will become. When Bush calls him on it
(because the "watchdog" media won't) he will be
characterized as the one who drew first blood. Bush is
just going to have to deal with it. The alternative would
be to let the misrepresentations go unchecked.
One thing the major poll shifts do show is that neither
candidate's support is very deep at this point, so the
election will probably go down to the wire. As long as
Bush stays the course and doesn't allow himself to be
unduly ruffled by Gore's tactics and the media's inevitably
uncritical portrayal of them, he should win quite handily in
November.
JWR contributor
David Limbaugh
is an
attorney
practicing in
Cape Girardeau,
Missouri,
and a
political
analyst
and
commentator. Send your comments to him by clicking here.
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