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Thank You, Mr. Gore
By Tim Siggia
December 11, 2003
On Tuesday, December 9, 2003 -- a day that will live in infamy if you're a Joe Lieberman fan -- former vice president and presidential nominee Al Gore (a.k.a. Algore to E.I.B. affectionadoes) snubbed his 2000 running mate to endorse Howard Dean for president in 2004. It was a slap in the face to Sleepy Joe, but it couldn't have been a better Christmas present for Republicans. It adds a fresh bulwark to the former Vermont governor's campaign, making his nomination look increasingly certain. Which means that Dean, if nominated, will be destined to become yet another Democratic statistic in the tradition of George McGovern, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis. After all these years, the Democrats still haven't learned, and Republicans -- George W. Bush, in particular -- stand to profit thereby.
The Sleepster took it as graciously as he could, though he admitted he was blindsided by the Gore endorsement. He couldn't help pointing out, however, that in endorsing Dean, Gore throws his support to a candidate whose positions on tax cuts, defense, and protectionist trade policies, among others, are "diametrically opposite" to those he claimed as his own. What it means for Sleepy Joe is that his campaign, which was foundering anyway, is for all practical purposes finished. It means that his party is once again swerving to the left, leaving him in the wake. For a candidate who on his best days has all the charisma, pep and pizazz of fellow Connecticut resident Henry Kissinger this is clearly not good news.
But it most certainly is for Republicans. For, with the most likely Democratic nominee being posited on the far left extreme, the only way President Bush can lose reelection is to pull a major, major gaffe -- and for the cautious Bush this is not a likely event. He has clearly learned his lesson from the Adam Clymer incident, and has not made a similar error since. Add to this the fact that the Democrats clearly have not learned from their errors of the past, and a second term for Bush is all but certain. Ever since 1972, the Democrats have been uncomfortable in the mainstream. When they ran on left-leaning platforms, as they did in the McGovern, Mondale and Dukakis campaigns, they lost handily. When they ran on centrist campaigns they won -- but look what happened afterward. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton ran and won as centrists, but immediately veered left upon taking office. Carter served only one term, leaving office with the country in an economic shambles, and the laughingstock of the world with regard to foreign policy and military strength. Bill Clinton came back to the center and won reelection for himself, but lost both houses of Congress, got himself impeached, and finished the most scandal-ridden presidency in U. S. history most ingloriously, still desperately scrambling for a legacy that would somehow confirm his empty claims to greatness.
Now we have the pattern getting ready to repeat itself again, with Howard Dean getting the endorsement of the Democrat who in 2000 won the popular vote -- as Democrats and their fellow liberals will never stop reminding us -- but lost the election, despite his best attempts to steal it. With this endorsement, Al Gore atones for his sins toward Republicans, and this one Republican, at the very least, is most grateful to him for this generous Christmas gift.
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