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Jewish World Review Jan. 13, 2000 /6 Shevat, 5760
Chris Matthews
This apathy clearly benefits the incumbent, Vice President
Al Gore, and, for a time, the rival most people expect him
to face in November, Texas Gov. George Bush. Both
men could win the first-in-the-nation primaries here Feb.
1 and render all the later contests redundant — including
the Big Casino in California on March 7.
Two factors explain the January complacency: the
buoyant economy and the weakness of any other topic to
grab voter passions.
Gore clings to the country's current economic strength as
if he were defending a one-man lifeboat, batting away
anyone who tries to come aboard. He says Bill Bradley's
health-care plan would sink the economy as surely as
would George W. Bush's big tax cut.
Gore's strategy and tactic are one and the same: present
himself as the lone, sure guardian of the best economy in
history. Why would any sane, self-interested voter want
to dump a successful economic crew if there's any doubt
about the proposed replacements?
If Gore can make Bradley — and later Bush — look like economic risks, he
wins the pivotal argument of the campaign.
At the risk of stirring even more voter complacency, I have yet to find any issue
other than the economy that could trump it.
Ideology?
With the budget balanced for now, murder and overall crime levels down,
welfare reform in place, the Cold War forgotten, much of America seems
content to go to work, to see to the kids and to keep an eye on the retirement
kitty. "Better dead than red" has been replaced by, "Don't rock the boat."
Personality?
Bill Bradley, the former Princeton All-American, Olympic and NBA basketball
star, is an attractive candidate. If he could make a compelling case for himself
and against Gore, he might pull a historic upset, much as Ronald Reagan nearly
beat incumbent Gerald Ford in 1976. He hasn't yet, and the clock is running.
Al Gore, who in too many settings exudes all the vitality and warmth of a public
figure standing in for himself in a wax museum, has meanwhile shown flashes of
his far more appealing private self. At a senior center in Portsmouth he sang
"Irish Eyes are Smiling" with Ted Kennedy, made a hip reference to a Woody
Allen movie and engaged in a genial back-and-forth with reporters that
reminded me — for a few, brief shining moments — of the playful, confident
JFK.
For a nation prosperous and at peace, it might not take much more — not in
February, not in
01/10/00: A choice, not an echo
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