MCCARTHY ALL THE WAY
McCarthy All the Way The scene has changed; it is now Indiana. The cast of characters has changed; it is now Senator Eugene J. McCarthy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy in the starring roles, with...
...Moreover, it is no service to the Vice President but rather an unfortunate and unintended reflection on his great sincerity and integrity when his defenders suggest that he did what he did these last fateful years without really believing in what he was doing...
...Still, it would be tampering with the truth to fail to acknowledge that he faces a rocky road from now to August...
...President Johnson's dramatic decision to withdraw as a candidate throws the race wide open—if the President meant what he said...
...Robert Kennedy could have achieved his finest hour if, after McCarthy's spectacular showing in New Hampshire, he had thrown his considerable support to the man whose courage and vision brought hope and leadership to the cause that Kennedy believed in but did not have the courage to command in the hour of decision...
...For a quarter of a century we have known and admired his courageous commitment to progressive principles—with only a rare aberration until recently to mar an otherwise splendid record...
...His performance in New Hampshire and Wisconsin, however, has established him as a major contender for the Democratic nomination...
...On the crucial issue of Vietnam, Humphrey has been more royalist than the crown, and, in the process, has been obliged by the nature of his role to downgrade the social goals at home that once made him the hope of American progressives...
...He has substituted—for the ham and corn so often dispensed on the platform—both the contemplative mood and the cutting edge of a wide-ranging mind and a sharp wit...
...More than any other American, he bridged the generational gap—to the extent that it has been bridged...
...Johnson's bidding despite his status as a lame duck President...
...He is bound to command powerful support—from the barons of organized labor, who have a rich kitty to toss his way...
...Senator McCarthy gave the youth of this country something to believe in and something to fight for —and they go on believing and fighting today because it was his candidacy and his crusade that did so much to open the door to the possibility of an early negotiated settlement of the hated war in Vietnam...
...What are McCarthy's chances now in the light of the breathtaking developments of the past month...
...But the Democratic Party has a superior choice...
...Without this basic grass roots support, Senator McCarthy could be overmatched by Senator Kennedy's superior organization, far greater financial resources, and the following his name attracts...
...Then there is Senator Robert F. Kennedy as a contender for the Democratic nomination...
...He has violated—successfully—the ancient rule that a candidate must make special appeals to special blocs...
...In Wisconsin, as in New Hampshire, and, hopefully, in Indiana, Nebraska, Oregon, and California in the weeks just ahead, workers, farmers, housewives, educators, clergymen, doctors, and lawyers, whose hair—if any—has turned to silver, have been out pounding the pavements, ringing doorbells, and generally spreading the glad tidings that America has a choice...
...See editorial, "The Power of Political Protest" on Page 3.) But without in the least denigrating the role of the young, we would be inaccurate if we did not remind our readers that adults, too, have been and are making a decisive contribution to the McCarthy cause...
...We confess we have never warmed toward him although his position on the issues that count is almost always progressive and he does display erratic bursts of courage...
...But his public performance in the past three years makes it easy to reject him in favor of his fellow Minnesotan, Senator McCarthy...
...We have some sympathy—a sympathy etched in sadness—for that defense...
...from Southern politicians, who have found him a politically congenial companion in recent years...
...If he is not to lose significant segments of his original following now that the war issue is somewhat blunted by President Johnson's peace overture, he must rally them to action by proposing bolder and more specific programs to combat the country's staggering problems at home and abroad...
...He has elevated the national dialogue by talking sense, not slogans...
...His campaign, so long ignored or ridiculed by the pundits and the columnists, changed the course of American history...
...But the harsh fact is that he was not there when we needed him most, that he became the voluble spokesman for a morally outrageous war that was destroying everything he and we thought we believed in...
...In the few short months of his campaign, the Minnesota Senator has exploded many a myth long cherished by the political professionals...
...Much has been made of the "children's crusade" that mobilized around the McCarthy candidacy—and much should be made of it...
...But we have always experienced difficulty in reconciling the shy, boyish performer on the platform and on television with the cold, ruthless, calculating politician who has not hesitated to exploit to his fullest political advantage the myth and the mystique surrounding his late brother...
...The experts had been unanimous from the beginning on one count—that his cause was quixotic, romantic, and hopeless...
...He has dared be a politician who does not feel the need to conceal his intelligence—or to underrate the intelligence of his audience...
...The Minnesota Senator's candidacy was widely regarded as more symbolic than real when he embarked on his lonely course late last fall...
...Our affectionate regard for the man remains undiminished...
...He has spurned the arts of demagoguery and the carnival character of politics that were traditionally thought to be sacred on the stump...
...Johnson...
...These latter groups, often ignored by the pundits of the press who pop in and out of a state overnight, can most effectively reach into the grass roots where the voters are...
...For us it is Gene McCarthy all the way...
...We would have no difficulty supporting Kennedy or, for that matter, Humphrey, against, say, a Nixon or a Reagan...
...Senator McCarthy's chances of success would be greatly improved, in our judgment, if he relied more on the original and basic source of his strength —the people at the grass roots...
...But McCarthy made monkeys of them all...
...It is painful because Hubert Humphrey had long been one of our heroes in politics...
...Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey will doubtless become a candidate, either in his own right or as a stalking horse for Mr...
...from those liberals whose devotion to him has survived the strains to which he has subjected that devotion, and from organization politicians who may still find it useful to do Mr...
...His national campaign organization must be strengthened and coordinated both with the Senator's own policies and strategy and with the state and local McCarthy organizations...
...it is now Senator Eugene J. McCarthy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy in the starring roles, with Indiana's Governor Roger D. Branigin playing the part of favorite son...
...For us, the choice between the two men of Minnesota is, paradoxically, both painful and easy...
...What has not changed is The Progressive's deep conviction that Senator McCarthy remains the nation's greatest hope to plan and execute the program of progressive action at home and abroad in the years of decision that lie ahead...
...We base our belief on the content and the manner of Senator McCarthy's presentation of the issues in his successful campaigns in New Hampshire and Wisconsin—and his renewed effort now in Indiana...
...It is argued in his behalf, of course, that he had no choice as the Commander-in-Chief's first lieutenant but to do and say what he did...
...But most of all, Senator McCarthy's greatest contribution to America in a time of turmoil is the fact that he offered the nation a choice when no one else dared, that he charted a hopeful road for a people who had lost their way, that he gave new meaning and strength to the democratic process at a time when his countrymen despaired of the dismal prospect of choosing between Johnson and Nixon in November...
Vol. 32 • May 1968 • No. 5
