He was better in 1988. Contrary to current mythology, he wasn’t always bitter–that only came at the end. His standard speech was a genuine, at times affecting, statement of Main Street Republicanism. He didn’t have much use for liberals, but his experiences as a wounded war veteran and child of the Depression led him to conclude government had some uses. He talked about signing welfare checks for his grandparents when he was county attorney. He talked about joining George McGovern to create the food-stamps program. He talked about working with Daniel Patrick Moynihan to “save” social security. He would never stoop to anything so gimmicky as signing a “no tax” pledge. And he lost. He was humiliated by a candidate who ran very much the way Dole is running now. George Bush signed the no-tax pledge (and then broke it, spectacularly, in office). He claimed to be one of the world’s few born-again Episcopalians. He located a fleeting affection for pork rinds and Loretta Lynn. When the moderate Bipon Society asked Bush to be its “Man of the Year,” he turned them down, much as Dole recently returned a donation from a gay Republican group. It was all very blatant and cheesy. And it worked.
No doubt, Bob Dole learned a lesson from the pasting he took–but it may be the wrong lesson for this election. His advisers are telling him the Republican electorate is more conservative, more “Christian” than in 1988. True enough, but that’s not the biggest change: there is a lower tolerance for posturing, for politicians who woo with pledges and pork finds. In his speech to the Christian Coalition, William Bennett–whose intelligence and serf-deprecating candor are sorely missed in this bland, gadfly-deprived race–warned the flock against candidates who do nothing more than demonize the usual “thems” of American politics (government, immigrants, minorities, etc.). “A lot of what has been ‘done’ to us, we did to ourselves,” Bennett said. “If they [the candidates] ask nothing of you, then give them nothing. Because they’re not telling you the truth.”
Speaking several hours later, Dole was more energetic than usual and refused to play can-you-top-this on abortion with Phil Gramm. But he barely engaged the crowd. “I want to challenge you,” he said, in a pathetic echo of Bennett’s passion. “Don’t ever lose your voice on moral issues.” He might as well have told them not to stop breathing. How sad. With his stature and experience, Dole could risk a more compelling candidacy. His wartime sacrifice and peacetime struggle to regain his strength give him the moral authority to do more than merely take potshots at pariahs. He needn’t go squishy; he could begin by telling some hard conservative truths.
For example. Instead of going to the American Legion convention and slam-dunking the “liberal intellectual elites,” Dole might have confronted his fellow vets with an inconvenient reality: the V.A. Hospital system is a disaster, a scandalously wasteful and ineffective way to provide care for needy veterans. It should be privatized. The Heritage Foundation has estimated that $1.6 billion per year could be saved–and better service provided–if the hospitals were sold off and eligible veterans given vouchers to pay for private care.
No extant politician has ever supported this proposal. The veterans’ lobby is considered too powerful (and sacrosanct). But Bob Dole could do it. He’d be a hero–even to his party’s skeptics. Budget cutters would love him, as would Kemp-style “empowerment” conservatives (who adore anything voucherized), and Newtian revolutionaries would welcome him as a fellow bomb-thrower. The public would begin to consider him something more than a semi-coherent Mr. Inside. A few stray pundits might even notice that Dole had proposed something Clinton wouldn’t dare.
There are other things Dole could do that Clinton can’t. He could tell his generation the truth about Medicare and Social Security. He could wean farmers, ranchers and miners off the federal teat. He could . . . but he won’t. It’s not in his nature, and it’s not how front runners run. This, however, isn’t likely to be a front-runner-friendly year. There is no longer safety in numbness. A plain-spoken adult is wanted for high-level government work. “Leadership is what it’s about,” Dole recites interminably. All right then. Show us your stuff.
