BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Thursday, September 25, 2003
Democrats visualize whirled
peas. Shortly before today's Democratic presidential debate began
in earnest, moderator Brian Williams explained the rather convoluted
rules, an exercise that he described as the "eat-your-peas portion of
the debate."
I'm tempted to observe that the
entire two hours felt like pea-eating. But as General Wesley Clark's
1972 presidential candidate, Richard Nixon, once observed, that
would be wrong!
With that, here are some random
observations about the first debate to feature Clark, who's been
anointed the instant co-frontrunner (along with Howard Dean) even
though -- or, rather, because -- he's been in the race for only a
little more than a week.
-- The format, featuring 60- and
30-second responses and lots of beeping timers, stunk, but it was
probably unavoidable with 10 candidates to juggle.
It also hurt John Kerry more than
anyone. Whether you think Kerry is thoughtful or evasive, the fact is
that he answers questions in a ponderous, lugubrious style. He needs
time to ease into a response. He got off a few decent shots at Dean
-- especially over Dean's plan to repeal the entire Bush tax cut,
which Kerry charges would hurt the middle class -- but, essentially,
Kerry came off as a 40 mph candidate who'd accidentally meandered
into the passing lane.
-- Clark's debut was anticlimactic.
His answers were mild, tepid even, and never really veered from the
surface of conventional Democratic thought. When Williams asked him
whether if he would support President Bush's request for $87 billion
in military and reconstruction funding in Iraq, he replied, "Brian,
if I've learned one thing from my nine days in politics, you have to
be careful with hypotheticals, and you just asked me one." It was a
good line, it got a laugh, but it really wasn't a
hypothetical.
Clark also failed to exploit his
military background beyond a little rhetorical throat-clearing. In
response to a question about Social Security, he made some sort of
reference to having appreciated the program "when I was in the United
States Army and trying to save $100 a month." It didn't make a lot of
sense, but perhaps it worked on some subliminal level.
-- A simmering subplot was to get
Howard Dean to blow his cool -- that is, if the perpetually seething
candidate can be said to have a cool. The former Vermont
governor showed a few flashes of anger (or "little flashes of
disagreement," as he put it when prodded by Williams), but for the
most part he held himself together -- even when accused by Dick
Gephardt of having sided with Newt Gingrich on a massive Medicare cut
in the mid 1990s. "You say you represent the Democratic wing of the
Democratic Party," Gephardt chided him. "I think you're just winging
it."
"That is flat-out false, and I am
ashamed that you would compare me to Newt Gingrich," Dean responded.
But, rather than escalate, he pulled himself together and said, "We
have to remember that the enemy here is George Bush, not each
other."
Even so, Dean's retort gave an
opening to Kerry, who observed -- correctly -- that Gephardt had
not compared Dean to Gingrich, but had merely noted that Dean
had supported Gingrich on a particularly odious proposal. "That's a
policy difference," Kerry said.
Thus Dean proved he could handle
being attacked without going ballistic, but still came off as
something of a whiner.
-- John Edwards wants to be Bill
Clinton, but he lacks Clinton's easy grace in front of the camera.
When Edwards panders, everyone can see that he's pandering,
which is why he'll never capture the Clinton magic.
For instance, he was asked if he
would continue to support government subsidies to American farmers if
it meant that it would worsen Third World poverty. Oh, yes he would!
"We have to stand by our farmers," he replied. But then quickly added
that he opposed subsidies to "millionaire farmers." Thanks for
the clarification, Senator.
-- Joe Lieberman is as well-known
as any of these candidates, but he seems unlikely to break through.
He's just too conservative for a party whose liberal wing dominates
in the primary season.
Lieberman defined his own problem
at the end, when the candidates were asked to identify the most
unpopular thing they would do as president. Lieberman responded that
this was the first presidential debate he's participated in that he
hasn't been booed.
-- Dennis Kucinich was passionate,
Al Sharpton was funny, Carol Moseley Braun was thoughtful, and Bob
Graham was avuncular. But none did anything to increase their chances
of being taken seriously -- especially by the media, which are
itching to knock this down to a three- or (at the most)
four-candidate scrum ASAP.
But see for yourself. The
rebroadcast on MSNBC starts in about 15 minutes.
posted at 8:42 PM |
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MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
