Campaign 2000
McWilliams, Wilson Carey
ed by the impeachment disaster about the limits of its power, ...
...our well-being as consumers, too little attentive to our dig- To an optimistic, forward-looking, pragmatic American, nity as citizens...
...becoming rich seems Of course, Al Gore as a "populist" hero of the working both more enticing and more desperately necessary...
...Gore still benefits trade with China...
...Tag der Einheit-"Unity Day" or ask if the Germans' dour attitude about reunification is just anI "Day of Oneness"-has none of the warm, fuzzy, other manifestation of Teutonic Weltschmerz, a temperamenpatriotic spirit of France's Bastille Day or our Fourth of July...
...In the best democratic fashion, too, the choice of the ultimate winner was made by losers, the individually weak-as defined by the game-collectively controlling the strong...
...Many pundits exwould be exciting: going into the stretch, Al pected Bush's lead to stand up...
...mans expect that 80 million people can become a close-knit Given the task the Germans set for themselves in 1989, it is not family virtually overnight...
...Not many voters, however, are on the ning mate Gore did more than put some distance between edge of their seats...
...tal heaviness of heart that characterizes much of German life...
...Actually, it's more complicated than that...
...mostly unhappy ones...
...The dominant spirits on the Right Wilson Carey McWilliams were content to show their muscle in the Republican primaries and in the unchanged plank on abortion...
...The Republicans, But the economy and the market have been slowing down, however, can't and don't want to attack Gore on that basis, not enough to hurt-the movement is ordinarily described since their own record and program is a good deal worse...
...As Frank Rich wrote in the New Republican program-tax cuts favoring the well-to-do, the York Times, the Democrats are "awash" in their own verrepeal of the estate tax, the privatization of Social Securi- sion of big money, and Al Gore has served, loyally, in an ty-speaks to that sensibility, and George W. Bush still has administration relatively indifferent to the claims of equalreason to think that it may help him into the White House...
...Hillary Clinton still stirs move toward the center without having to worry about his juices, of course, especially on the Right, which ranks her own right, especially in the North...
...American Elections posing democratic-capitalist and Communist systems...
...The class is not really credible...
...much as it is an appeal to "class war...
...Y Gore and George W. Bush are running neck Gore, however, is first rate as a counterpuncher...
...ing inequality looks less appalling...
...A decade after the Wall has fallen, the so-called falonier of working families-are too much concerned with Mauer im Kopf-"the wall in their heads"-remains...
...its participants fall short of self-government, and its politics is too much like what we have...
...equality threatens the dignity of ordinary Americans and In this mood, as sociologist Alan Wolfe observes, our grow- the democracy of our politics...
...And our leaders-even Al Gore, that gon- advanced far...
...attractive personality and the broad itch to get past the seed- Nothing either side is saying, however, is likely to capiness of the Clinton administration...
...Whatever the reason, the "wall surprising that the birthdays of the new Germany have been in their heads" remains nearly insurmountable...
...Bush has the advantage, ture America's imagination or avoid a low turnout...
...ed by the impeachment disaster about the limits of its power, yet eager for revenge...
...And with Campaign 2000 the nomination in hand, Bush-no rightist-began his galMost voters remain indifferent lop toward the inclusive center, affirming traditional values but promising toleration, emphasizing compassion at the expense of conservatism...
...Republicans prefer to assail Gore's suspect from prosperity, but the note of caution makes voters more fundraising, accusations that move very few voters, since inclined to worry about security, more concerned to have a most Americans are convinced-probably rightly-that there government that will protect them against the market at its isn't much either party won't do for a fast buck...
...For 1980-98 (Chatham House...
...the Left has to scramble for equivalents: Newt is off-stage...
...It is significant, after all, that young Americans-the least likely to vote-were most ing) the smaller one...
...Bishop Commonweal I I September 22, 2000...
...Times are good, after all: in political sci- jority (Basic Books), in which Ruy Teixeira and Joel Rogers ence, the most sophisticated models, based on economic argue that the white working class, more than "soccer data, are all predicting a Gore victory, some by very wide moms," has been the swing vote in recent elections...
...Our public life is becoming more oli- These tensions make October 3 seem more like "Dis-Unity garchic in fact, despite its democratic form, losing its old Day," and most Germans agree that "internal unity" has not enchantments...
...The former East Germany, with a growth THE BERLIN WALL LIVES rate approaching 10 percent per year during the last five years, Today, it's a mental construct is the fastest-growing region of the industrialized world...
...daddy whose fat wallet has modernized their region...
...And Gore's moral sigas a rival to her husband for the status of arch-fiend...
...The stakes are real, but do cial conservatives-to say nothing of people attached to the not move us very much...
...Working worst, and less disposed to rock what is, after all, a rather families" seem to be concluding that, although Gore is twocomfortable boat...
...Except in moments, it wasn't about the physical difficulties of survival: the show was preeminently about the politics of survival, and it claimed us, I think, because viewers could watch people engaged in the practice of self-government, maneuvering and speaking in a community where individual citizens visibly mattered, each show culminating in a vote...
...as "lateral"-but enough to introduce an element of uncer- (Or at least as bad: Bush, like Gore, supported "normalizing" tainty that strengthens Al Gore's hand...
...Whatever the outcome, that is not likely to the negative verdicts about the progress of reunification seem be changed by the election of 2000...
...The official Unity Day festivities, sponsored mutually agreeing to become one nation, with the larger state aid- jointly by Berlin and the Western city of Wiesbaden, opened ing and modernizing (or, as some would soon protest, devour- in Wiesbaden with an ecumenical religious service...
...man reunification on October 3 promises to be a "Internal unity" is a lofty goal, and Americans might well raucous affair...
...O at once both unduly pessimistic and rather naive...
...By contrast, "Big Brother," so much less popular, leaves the crucial decisions to the mass, call-in audience...
...Pat Buchanan is sinking-and not slowly-into the out the campaign, Democrats have been much less combog of irrelevance...
...In any margins...
...Why don't Germans stress the substantial progress that has been made toWilson Carey McWilliams, a regular contributor, is the author of ward reconciling and uniting two Germanies that had opBeyond the Politics of Disappointment...
...instance, one seldom hears Germans-unless they are politicians-note the important fact that today Eastern Germany is the most prosperous region of what was formerly the East European Communist bloc with a standard of living seven John Rodden times that of its former Communist neighbors, such as Hungary and Bulgaria...
...And reunited Germany is clearly the strongest nation in the European Union, as signified by the EU's decision to locate its f history be a guide, the tenth anniversary of Ger- central bank in Frankfurt...
...Most of the interest in the election so far himself and Clinton...
...In the and neck, and both parties have at least a chance first place, by selecting Senator Joseph Lieberman as a runto control Congress...
...faced, at least one face is friendly...
...even candi- pugnant, in the Democratic ticket...
...More moreover, of having captured the Religious Right, instruct- Americans will vote, probably, than watched the last episode Commonweal 1 0 September 22, 2000 of "Survivor" on TV, but it will be close...
...Throughscure...
...Gore's champiin November may have moments of wondering why they onship of "working families" is partisan combat at least as came...
...German reunification meant two states, Last October 3, for example, even leading German clerwith utterly opposing economic and political systems, one of gy-usually reluctant to address political issues-spoke out 65 million citizens and another of 16 million, voluntarily and on the problem...
...And issues aside, relatively few decencies-to find something attractive, or at least not reAmericans are finding candidates they love...
...In fact, it's hard not to At the moment, Al Gore seems likely to win the presi- believe that the vice president or someone in his confidence dency and it's a good bet the Republicans will keep majori- has read, and been persuaded by, America's Forgotten Maties in both houses...
...The Republican convention, ou might think this year's presidential race staged in that spirit, was a great success...
...The Lieberman nomination allows sohas been polite or mildly irritated...
...for Trailing Bush in the personality sweepstakes, Gore has most voters, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay is too ob- turned, almost of necessity, to an appeal to party...
...Truth be turalism-when hundreds of thousands of immigrants have told, Germans from both the East and West remain pro- poured into their country since reunification-why do Gerfoundly ambivalent about their reunited nation...
...as E.J.Dionne observes, Bush's strong suits, however, have always been his more Gore is making the case that the election does matter after all...
...But nal may be enough to let him claim the political high ground...
...Even the voters who make it to the polls mitted to Gore than Republicans to Bush...
...WesternRightly, more and more Americans are convinced that ers are indignant that Easterners expect handouts and are not our politics, a matter of masses and media, is increasingly more grateful for the bailout from communism...
...With an case, Gore's appeal, calculated to shore up his base (and exuberant stock market and an economy running at high limit any defections to Ralph Nader), is also calibrated to a speed, Middle Americans in the millions have been tempt- time when economic uneasiness is causing Americans to ed to take their current prosperity more or less for granted, pay more attention to the ways in which our new-model indiscounting their immediate interests in favor of their hopes...
...ity or, in the crunch, to American labor...
...It limits Bush's ability to dates to hate seem in short supply...
...On almost every Tag der Einheit, police and security forces After forty-five years of hostility, and in an age of multiculhave been called in to handle left- or right-wing riots...
...Not surprisingly, Easterners have resented likely to watch "Survivor": the show was, in many ways, a the Westerners' alleged superiority as the big Deutschmark measure of our political discontents...
...dominated by money...
...Survivor," in fact, revealed a good deal about our civic life...
Vol. 127 • September 2000 • No. 16
