FOR SIX YEARS I was the head of a Ralph Nader group, and later for a decade I served on the board of the liberal League of Conservation Voters. As a producer at ABC and Fox News, I saw old-fashioned political consultants transformed into hardened kamikaze pundits, escalating their rhetoric and political tactics. You could say I have had a front row seat to observe the left in action.
Now, however, they are about to outdo themselves. America’s liberals, led by Vice President Al Gore and his aides, are consciously preparing to undermine the legality and legitimacy of the next president of the United States. They should stop while they still can.
The game under way in Florida may seem like clever backroom politics. But it is playing out on a far larger stage than the closeted world of inside Washington, where their scorched-earth tactics were perfected. When the Democratic party pours an army of lawyers and unbridled activists into Florida, the Gore campaign and its allies may imagine they are merely extending the hard-fisted “continuous campaign” of the Clinton years. Call it War Room Florida. But while threats, court actions, and street rallies have delivered partisan victories in the past, in the context of a close presidential election, they could trigger the most severe constitutional crisis in our country’s history, one that would cripple our country for decades.
I’m sure some Gore campaign aides consider their challenges to the legality of the election in Florida a smart tactic — simply another way to weaken George W. Bush if he wins the White House. They don’t seem to understand — or are indifferent to the notion — that attacks on the legitimacy of our elections are not precision-guided munitions, capable of undermining a specific administration without collateral damage. The damage in this case would be done not just to a Bush administration but to our political heritage of unquestioned acceptance when power is transferred from one party to the other.
Think of the consequences if this campaign continued for weeks or months. Political instability in Washington certainly will trigger chaos in our financial markets that could cause lasting trouble to the national economy. When Gore campaign manager William Daley said the Florida vote was “an injustice unparalleled in our history,” you could watch the stock market ticker turn red on the television screen. The markets will fall even farther if the delegitimization campaign continues. Foreign investment, which has helped power year after year of American prosperity, will slow as uncertainty builds. Confidence in the dollar could also collapse, wreaking havoc in markets around the world.
In foreign policy, allied governments will treat the United States with less respect if the legitimacy of our elections begins to be questioned. What might happen in the Middle East if the Palestinians and Arab governments should decide our government is illegitimate? Might China decide to provoke a crisis with Taiwan, thinking Washington is distracted? Is it possible other adversaries might try to “test” the White House? OPEC might decide the time is ripe for a supply shock that would send oil prices soaring. Terrorists might be emboldened. There could be attacks against American citizens living abroad or on U.S. soil.
All of this may sound alarming. It should. The liberal gambit in Florida could end up causing global instability, chaos, and lasting suffering. By seeming completely oblivious to this possibility, the Gore campaign has demonstrated a lack of seriousness unbecoming to a group that may be just days away from winning the White House.
America’s liberals have always claimed to be the champions of good government and “civil society.” They have been in the forefront of those who say that civil discourse and respect for opposing viewpoints are the bedrock of democracy. Don’t they understand the effect of their recent rhetoric, in which they claim to be the unique repository of the “will of the people”? This is almost a declaration of war against the half of the country that didn’t vote for their man. Talk about a coarsening of public life.
Liberals should remember that when President Clinton faced national ridicule in his first months in the White House, it was a Republican presidential adviser, David Gergen, who came to his rescue. When asked why he had done so, he said that President Clinton was his president too. He said the nation couldn’t afford to see any president fail.
The era that was capable of producing such graciousness in our national discourse may be coming to a close. The knives are out. My liberal friends say a Bush presidency must be stopped at all costs. I hope they are just saying this in the heat of the moment, without considering the violence to our national fabric that such words seem to countenance.
What must be done? Both presidential candidates should pledge to accept the official vote certifications, in Florida and across the country, and condemn those who would litigate our presidential elections. Vice President Gore should forcefully instruct his surrogates and allies to end their attacks on his opponent, stay out of the streets, and accept the certified results of the election. A commitment to civility must come from the top of the ticket.
The morning after the presidential vote, a weary NBC anchor Tom Brokaw advised everyone to take a deep breath. Then he called for “wise men” to prevail in this uncertain time. Are there any wise men left? Let’s hope so. The Democratic party badly needs to take a deep breath and heed their counsel.
Richard Pollock is an executive vice president at Shandwick Public Affairs, a Washington, D.C., public relations agency.
