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Jewish World Review Dec. 20, 2000 / 23 Kislev, 5761

Chris Matthews

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Armistice


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- THE 2000 presidential election ended less like World War II than World War I. It delivered neither victory nor defeat, but merely an armistice.

The senate is divided 50-50, the House 222-213. The presidency, because it can't be divided, has gone to George W. Bush, whose share of the country's vote was smaller by several hundred thousand than his rival's.

Just as in World War I, the battle of 2000 was concluded not with the well-earned victory of one side over the other, but the intervention of an outside force. In 1917, that force was the landing of the U.S. Army in Europe. In 2000, it was the action of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The dangers that face our country in the months ahead are the same that stalked the western world in the post-World War I years: a naked triumphalism on the part of the victors; a bitter thirst for revenge on the part of the losers.

Both President-elect George W. Bush and lame-duck Vice President Al Gore did their best last week to moderate these impulses.

Gore, delivering the greatest American political speech in years, bowed both to Bush's 5-4 victory in the Supreme Court and the Republican candidate's resulting 271-267 victory in the electoral college.

"Neither he nor I anticipated this long and difficult road," the Democrat said of the five-week post-election battle over Florida's 25 electoral votes. "Now it has ended, resolved, as it must be resolved, through the honored institutions of our democracy."

Bush responded in kind. Introduced on national television by the Democratic speaker of the Texas legislature, he stressed the need for "bi-partisan cooperation" in the coming Congress.

"Together, guided by a spirit of common sense, common courtesy and common goals, we can unite and inspire the American citizens."

Bush's remarks were well received by the Democratic leader of the U.S. House, Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, himself a past presidential candidate. The man from Missouri ticked off much the same worksheet of 2001 legislative goals as the president-elect from Texas: better public schools, prescription drugs for seniors, HMO reform.

One item Gephardt added to his list -- campaign reform -- spells trouble for Bush within his own party's ranks. Just minutes after the Texas governor addressed the nation Wednesday night, Arizona senator John McCain, the man Bush beat for the nomination, promised to "make sure" that the new president works to end the corruption of big money in politics.

The president-elect faces trouble on another challenge from cultural conservatives: Before he can secure a decent peace with Capitol Hill Democrats such as Gephardt and senate leader Tom Daschle, the president-elect will need to set the rules of engagement for his own side.

Bush will need to instruct fellow Texans Dick Armey and Tom Delay, the two firebrands of the House Republican leadership, that negotiation is not a sign of defeat but rather the post-election strategy for action. As a first step, the president-elect should fill a pair of his cabinet posts with people who drive Delay, Armey and their allies in the rightwing clergy up the wall. What Bill Clinton did to Sister Souljah in 1992, George W. Bush must do the Rev. Jerry Falwell in 2000.

The armistice between Democrat and Republicans will survive only as long as the winner presides with magnanimity and punishes all violators of the truce, his own side included.



JWR contributor Chris Matthews is the author of Hardball. and hosts a CNBC show of the same name. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

Up

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