The Bushed And The Bored

So by attacking "the agents of intolerance" and "the failed philosophy that money is our message," McCain set a new path. This year's Death Wish Republicans will fight to the finish to avoid following it. They insist on nominating a candidate shown by polls everywhere to be weaker than McCain against Gore. But if the GOP loses in November--especially if it loses big--the McCain message will grow louder in the future, even if the war hero himself doesn't carry it. That's how parties get transformed over time.

Bradley hoped to play a similar role on the Democratic side; he failed. Because he needed to woo mainstream Democrats, Bradley played down the corruption-in-Washington themes that score with independents in favor of an ambitious antipoverty message. The soccer moms didn't buy it. And by running left, Bradley did nothing to appeal to right-of-center indies on issues like school choice. Instead of acting defensive about his Senate votes for voucher experiments, Bradley could have kicked off a historic debate among Democrats on why black children are trapped in awful public schools while white children can escape. Still, Brad-ley made a lasting contribution by putting health care front and center. Even the Republicans now have to confront it.

Both Gore and Bush will soon tack hard toward the center. Bush is already attacking McCain as soft on such indie issues as breast-cancer research and the environment, which is mighty hypocritical given his own weaker record in these areas. As they chow down on soft money, neither Gore nor Bush will pay more than lip service to confronting the dangers of money in politics. Neither can plausibly run as a reformer. That means that barring a McCain miracle, we may be looking at another election where more than a third of the voters cannot get excited about either party's nominee. Many independents--the most important voting bloc in the most important democracy in the world--will stay home or hold their noses in the booth. Even politics shouldn't smell that bad.

© 2000