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Oct. 21, 2004 I know I’m going to catch a lot of flak among the extremely liberal out there (and there are some - they just prefer to stay hidden, reading but not voicing) when I say this: I miss Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. In 1996 I was eight years old, and my mind was more focused on toys and elementary school than anything vaguely political. I still remember it, though: the television ads, the newspapers, Bill Clinton’s southern drawl, Bob Dole’s injured hand. I’m more mature now, I hope, and wouldn’t comment on Senator Dole’s hand now like I did when I was so young. But there was one thing that struck me about the 1996 Presidential Debate, something that wasn’t a campaign promise, a debate issue or a stump speech. What I remember most was the humanity of it. Senator Dole and President Clinton were civil to each other. They conducted the debates like gentlemen, and, having watched tapes of the old ones, gentlemen of a caliber beyond political decency. They almost seemed like good golfing buddies. I have always had respect for Senator Dole, even if he is nicknamed “Mr. Republican” by those who have served with him. It’s in the same way that I have respect for Bill Clinton; muted, of course, after the Lewinsky affair, but it’s still there. I respect Bill Clinton as a gentlemen to his political opponents, a speaking skill reminiscent of Theodore Roosevelt, and an overall decency to his fellow man. You can argue Bill Clinton’s morality all you want. I will probably agree with you on many points. However, you cannot doubt that Bill Clinton loved his job, and loved the people who got him there. He treated them with a kind of respect that is lost on both John Kerry and George W. Bush. Both have attempted the Clintonesque storytelling on the stump, and both have come off looking worse after it. Clinton was gifted in some respects, and in deficit in others. Senator Dole also held a deep respect and understanding of the people he wanted to vote him into the Office of the President. He held strong conservative values, had deep faith, believed in what he spoke of, but did not try to press his beliefs on the people. He had a genuine respect for people who disagreed with him, so long as they could come up with a decent reason why. Dole was and is conservatism as it ought to be: non-threatening, decent, reassuring, promising to enhance and act as a support for our current values; not to force the beliefs of the majority on the rest. Senator Dole’s conservatism is what is needed in the Congress, and, if President Bush is re-elected, in our President. In 2000, wherever then-Governor Bush went, Dole followed, calming the nerves of non-Christians, gays, pro- choice activists. He told them not to worry, that it would be okay. Bill Clinton and Bob Dole symbolize a kind of political decency that has run into the ground amid all of the smear ads, name-calling, scowling and pretentious chuckling. If you elect John Kerry, they say, terrorism will increase. If you re-elect George W. Bush, the others say, they can’t guarantee it won’t. It makes one wish - dare I say - for Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. Conservatives, some of them, have been conditioned to see no good in Bill Clinton because of his moral shortfalls. I was never conditioned not to see good in someone based on one factor of their lives. The Dole-Clinton position is a benchmark we need to quickly regain, lest we fall over the far-right or far- left of the political banks. President Clinton, Senator Dole, bring us to moderation once more. ------------ About the author: Max Burns is a 17-year-old conservative Democrat, writer, pollster, pundit and aspiring Indiana politician. He currently is an intern (unpaid) with Indiana Democratic Party and writes for The Progressive Voice). Read the fantasy-fiction novel "Alcardia". Email: DeMBurns@gmail.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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