The Week - Democratic National Convention highlights

National Review, Sept 11, 2000

Say, did you hear Joe Lieberman is Jewish?

Some of our readers may have found the speeches in Los Angeles confusing. So here is a glossary that may be helpful: Choice-something very, very important to protect. Although working families should never have to choose between things. Fiscal discipline-high taxes. Gun safety-common sense; opposed by powerful interests. Popularity contest-the presidential race shouldn't be one. Powerful interests-companies that do not win popularity contests; Republicans. Not to be confused with professionals. Professionals-What teachers should be paid like, while keeping the job security of bureaucrats. Tax cuts-a government program that benefits the wealthy. The wealthy-people who benefit from tax cuts; Republicans. Working families-Democratic voters. Any questions?

Traditionally, American political performances were modeled on the sermon, from Jonathan Edwards to the revivalist's call-and-response; and on the legislative oration, from Pitt and Burke, via Patrick Henry, Webster, and Clay. The new state of the art is the walk to the podium. The Bill Clinton/Harry Thomason stunt in Los Angeles recalled nothing so much as the triumphal last scene of Star Wars. But that scene was itself influenced by Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will. For two decades the style of the presidency and political conventions has increasingly borrowed from the fascist rally and the rock concert (to the extent they can be distinguished). The spectacles that Mike Deaver staged for Ronald Reagan cannot escape this indictment. The trend emphasizes choreography over bustle; imagery over word; and the leader as symbolic figure, not as deliverer of argument or inspiration (if President Clinton's mike had died, his podium walk would have lost nothing). We won't start shooting people in basements just because we have bad taste. But our bad taste dulls our receptiveness to the next "I have a dream," or "Give me liberty, or give me death!"

In 1995, Sen. Joseph Lieberman said that preferences based on race and sex were "dividing us," and that he supported California's Proposition 209, which would repeal them. Veep candidate Lieberman now tells the Congressional Black Caucus, "I have supported affirmative action; I do support affirmative action; and I will support affirmative action." Sen. Lieberman at least four times voted for experimental voucher bills. Sidekick Lieberman phones Sandra Feldman, teachers'-union honcho, to assure her that a Gore-Lieberman administration would never sign them. In 1998, Sen. Lieberman opined that privatizing at least a portion of Social Security accounts "has to happen." Number-two Lieberman produces an unpublished op-ed pipiece, allegedly written in June 2000, entitled "My Private Journey Away from Privatization" (the road to Canossa is always public; that is why ambitious politicians are required to travel it). Josephus Publius Lieberman stood in the well of the Senate and called President Clinton's behavior "immoral." I'm Joe, Fly Me praises Clinton's "extraordinary record." Bookies are taking bets on what month Hillary Clinton, with Lieberman in tow, will have some face time with the Rev. Al Sharpton.

The surest applause line at the Democratic convention was a defense of abortion-although, as usual, the A-word was left unspoken. Hillary Clinton responded to liberals' worries about Joe Lieberman's perceived moderation by reassuring them that he was down-the-line for abortion. (He wouldn't have been on the ticket otherwise.) Around the same time, courts in New Jersey and Colorado struck down laws requiring that parents be notified of their minor daughters' abortions. As for a requirement of parental consent, it is, of course, entirely out of the question. And they say pro-lifers are fanatics?

Since at least the "Man from Hope" film in 1992, the get-to-know-the-nominee video has become one of the most important pseudo-events of the conventions. Gore's film, shot in cinema verite over a single day during his beach vacation, featured shots of him talking with his mouth full, being teased by his children, and sneering at the prospect of watching the movie The Patriot. To the extent the film "proved" Gore was a human being-a particularly low bar-it was a success. But what was perhaps more revealing was the choice of director. Gore selected Spike Jonze because he directed Gore's new favorite film, Being John Malkovich. In that movie, we learn that there is a portal through which any number of persons can trespass in order to "take over" the actor John Malkovich's body for limited periods of time. What could possibly be Gore's attraction to this film?

It turned out that there was one honest woman at the Democratic convention, Rep. Loretta Sanchez of Orange County. The convention was airbrushed into God and Family, Traditional Morality, Lieberman! Gore! But Loretta Sanchez refused to go along with the gag, and planned a big fundraiser at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles. Women as Sex Objects, Bunnies in bikinis, Playmates, access to the nude swimming pool, Old Hef in his bathrobe, two blonde playmates, and a stash of Viagra. For laughs, serious oil paintings on the walls. Her arm twisted out of its socket, Sanchez crumbled grumpily and canceled. But she was closer to the heart of the Democratic party than all the nearer-my-God-to-thee.