August 13, 2000

Unlikely That Lieberman Can Save Gore or Democrats

Al Gore’s choice of Sen. Joseph Lieberman as his running mate is historical in signaling a break up of the labor/liberal coalition that Democrats came to love and depend upon for 70 years.

The vice-president was consistently 17 or more points behind Gov. Bush in every opinion poll. Unions, women, and minorities – backbone of the old Franklin D. Roosevelt coalition – are holding back.

Conventional wisdom was that Gore would have to make major concessions to his core constituency in order to get elected. Yet, the polling gap between him and Bush apparently seemed too wide to close in the 12 weeks to election.

Clearly Gore needed to re-invent himself one more time. The Clintesque Gore was skidville. "Clinton fatigue" is real.

The antidote to White House sleaze, legal and moral, seemed to call for association with a middle-of-the-road pious Democrat --scarce as they might be. Hence, Lieberman.

Oh, he had voted for many Republican initiatives -- North Atlantic Free Trade Association, school vouchers, balanced budgets, reduction in the capital gains tax, the use of force in Desert Storm, and some privatization of Social Security.  

Nevertheless, it is assertively bold to pick an orthodox Jew (no minority prejudice in the party of FDR!) and a religious stickler who had roundly condemned Clinton for immoral behavior (take that, Rev. Jerry Falwell!).

We are sure to hear the liberal media recall repeatedly Lieberman’s public rebuke of Clinton: "The president apparently had extramarital relations with an employee half his age and did so in the Oval Office. Such behavior is not just inappropriate… it is immoral."

Lost in the limbo of liberal commentators memory is the rest of Lieberman’s statement: "I have been deeply disappointed and angered [that] he then made false and misleading statements about that relationship to the American people, to a Federal district judge in a civil deposition and to a Federal grand jury. In doing so, he betrayed not only his family but the public trust."

Sadly, Sen. Lieberman pigeonholed his moral convictions when it came time to stand up and be counted. He joined 28 other Democrats in a feeble attempt to head of impeachment by sponsoring a resolution to "censure" Clinton. Naughty boy, don’t do that again.

Also ignored is Lieberman’s only statement in the Senate after Clinton had been impeached by the House: "Not guilty."

For all his piety, Lieberman is a hypocrite. Consciously or not, he played the Democrat’s game that "it was only about sex." When the cock crowed, the senator remembered not his moral and constitutional scruples.

 Clinton’s impeachment was about perjury and abuse of office. Yet, not a single Democrat senator -- Lieberman conspicuously included – voted for the Constitution and the Ten Commandments. Let us hear no more about President Nixon’s two-bit transgressions or Bob Jones University extremes.

There is much being spun about anti-Semitism in the selection of a Jew for high, national, elected office. We are reminded of Brer Rabbit’s famous plea, "Please don’t throw me in that briar patch!"

There is some prejudice everywhere – against Jews, Catholics, Protestants, fundamental Christians, Muslims, African-Americans, Italians, Irish, Britons, Orientals, Hispanics, Indians, left-handers, political columnists and little old ladies who drive slow.  

While all of us are guilty – sometimes in reverse political correctness – we do elect leaders who represent the melting pot when the time is right.

We elected a Catholic president when John F. Kennedy best represented the country as a whole. We have elected many Jews, African-Americans and women to high political office – with good effect. We will elect them a president in due time.

It is said that Lieberman will "solidify" the Jewish vote for Democrats – particularly in New York City for Hillary Clinton. How much more solid can you get?" From 6 percent of the total vote to 7 percent is not decisive. She will have to hug Joe Lieberman a hundred times before American Jews are satisfied she didn’t mean it when she embraced Mrs. Arafat in Palestine.

Gore is gambling that Lieberman’s votes on conservative issues will attract unaffiliated, swing voters. The liberal spin is that Gore is demonstrating his "willingness to listen to other view points."

 There goes the argument against Bush for embracing Sen. John McCain and the latter’s fixation on campaign finance reform.

Inasmuch as the two running mates are cut from the same cloth, Bush and Gore will have to do the heavy lifting themselves.  

In this exercise, Bush again has the advantage. His conservative base is locked in. Gore’s liberal base feels deceived and is drifting away – some to Ralph Nader’s Green Party, and some to stay home on election day.

No matter who wins, both major political parties will be changed. With no big wars or economic depressions to worry about, the majority centrists will insist on moderation.

It’s about time.

By Lindsey Williams, columnist for Sun Coast Media Group newspapers