Brian Fishman Fishman is a fourth-year
political science student. He can be reached at [email protected].
Click Here for more articles by Brian Fishman
I heard there was a presidential election this year, but now
I’m not so sure. By definition, elections have candidates,
generally people, that you may support. But after that debacle of a
debate last week, I’m not sure either of the two presidential
hopefuls qualify as candidates. There was little personality,
little bravery, little that made me think: Candidate For
President.
After all that TV coverage, all those viewers, and all that
shooting the breeze, those debates which are perhaps the best
chance for public participation in a democracy as large as ours
have left many viewers wondering why the vice presidential
candidates are not running for president.
There was Governor Bush flailing about, seemingly ignorant of
the key issues revolving around the former Yugoslavia. Was he, the
potential commander-in-chief, really blind to Russian support for
former tyrannical Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic? What kind
of candidate for president could be so ignorant?
There was Al Gore verbally swaggering across America’s
airwaves, swinging statistics and experience to and fro, virtually
assuming his own success in this election. Seeming to ignore the
difficulty and importance of the election process, Gore casually
plugged, “if you entrust me with the presidency” in
front of bold policy statements. Though his confidence in this
election is likely warranted, Gore tread a fine line between
confidence in his chances for election and a smug assurance that he
would become the most powerful man on the planet. What kind of
candidate for president could be so arrogant?
Gore cited all sorts of statistics, including the fact that for
every one dollar he plans to spend on education, Bush plans to give
five dollars in tax cuts to the richest one percent of the
population. That was surprising to me, but Bush didn’t seem
to buy it.
“There he goes with that fuzzy math again,” Bush
spat out, shaking his head like a disappointed father. Bush,
apparently, does not do well with fractions. What kind of candidate
for president could seem so impotent in the face of evidence?
And, while Bush acted convincingly disappointed by the
“fuzzy math,” one started to wonder whether
Gore’s math was fallacious or Bush was unable (how to say
this delicately?) to comprehend just what Gore was getting at.
Algebra seems fuzzy to the average first-grader, but that does
not mean it is biased or useless. Undaunted, a staunch Republican
friend claimed, “intelligence is not the only thing I look
for in a president.” While that’s true, what kind of
candidate is an unintelligent candidate? But if Bush’s past
lacks a mathematical education, Gore’s is associated with
Bill Clinton, a man who was accused of having an affair at the
White House.
I counted at least six times that Gore referred to himself as
his “own man.” But crawling out from under the shadow
of a man who successfully combined sex and politics in a year-long
one-of-a-kind television event will not be easy.
Bush appeared as saddened by President Clinton’s
disreputable behavior as he was by Gore’s fuzzy math. So he
bravely assaulted the current administration and somewhat
effectively tried to link Gore to Clinton’s character
flaws.
Shaking his head with a mournful but determined Texas stare,
Bush declared, “It’s time for a fresh start after a
season of cynicism.”
It kind of makes you want to ride off into the sunset.
Unfortunately, neither candidate looked totally prepared to ride
off into the oval office. Neither Gore nor Bush looked
extraordinarily presidential.
Gore looked overly made-up; his hair didn’t budge for 90
minutes. Bush looked scared; he stuttered and smiled nervously.
Gore treated Bush like an annoying little brother and Bush
shamelessly evaded Gore’s challenges on the McCain-Feingold
campaign finance reform bill, abortion and the military.
Evasion was the name of the game all around. Moderator Jim
Lehrer tried to pry the two would-be candidates into meaningful
debate on education by asking leading questions: “So,
what’s the difference between you two on
education?”
And after a virtually meaningless 10 minutes of informative
would-be sound bites, a third-grade teacher exploded at the two
would-be presidents. “These two have no idea what
they’re talking about. No clue.”
Would-be presidents acting like siblings, fractions as
indecipherable as quantum physics, and an unemotional, lackluster
conversation unsuccessfully tried to double as a meaningful
presidential debate.
Compared to these two, the vice presidential candidates Senator
Joe Lieberman and former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney looked like
Abbot and Costello. They joked, they laughed, they sparred and
jabbed at each other. They were more than just personalities and
recordings espousing policy ““ they were candidates. They were
informed, intelligent and human. They were worth watching.
And while the vice presidential debate was encouraging because
it demonstrated what a good debate can be, it was upsetting that
the two presidential candidates failed to represent themselves with
the dignity and class of their running mates.
Yet, despite the differences between the presidential and vice
presidential debates, a less well-defined, but equally important
schism opened between the democratic ticket and its less
mathematically inclined Republican counterpart.
Gore and Lieberman, despite Gore’s continued inability to
present himself as a complete candidate ““ with the right mix
of personality and policy ““ continue to publicly descry
definitive policies that they wish to carry out if elected. Bush
especially, but Cheney as well, continues to tiptoe around abortion
and campaign finance reform.
Consistent democracy depends on the notion that who is elected
is not as important as how they were elected in a contest between
well-versed, creative, likeable, intelligent candidates. These are
the candidates who can push the envelope, candidates who can make
the United States a better place by having shared their ideas,
candidates like the would-be vice presidents.
There is still time for our two potential presidents to learn
something, behave like leaders, earn our respect and not just our
votes. Let’s hope that time comes soon.