THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508250009
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: PERRY MORGAN
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Bill Bradley clothes his decision to leave the Senate with an eloquent indictment of prevailing American politics in which the two parties act out their caricatures.
His picture of Democrats as infatuated with government and of Republicans as reflexively hostile to it, will resonate with many Americans who prefer common sense over cant and who hope against hope for a rallying cry. But Bradley, though speaking vaguely of a ``third way,'' raised no standard of his own, nor is he likely to.
George Will suggests Bradley could run for president as an independent - ``as a Powell with policies'' - but that's unlikely. Like other Senate heavyweights who've left or are checking exits, Bradley is more substance than sparkle - civil, moderate, deeply thoughtful but also stolid. And not well-known.
But even if he were a charismatic figure, what uniting message could he offer a dispirited electorate facing lowering expectations? That seemed to be the question that caused Ross Perot's candidacy to flame out after an impressive lift-off three years ago. Superb in forcing recognition of the dangers of deficits and debt, the Texan developed a tremor as he turned to prescribing what to do about it. The aw-shucks emperor is back again but with no clear purpose; his recent convocation was like Hurricane Felix, a big blow on a wandering course.
That metaphor fits well enough the whole of American politics, including the current third-party fever. A New York Times/CBS News poll says 55 percent of citizens think a new party is needed but they offered few specifics when asked what such a party should stand for. And they (61 percent) also see any third-party president as being confounded by Congress.
That surely is the right expectation. Any effective president needs organized support in Congress as well as a popular mandate. A new party by definition doesn't have time to organize from the bottom up; as for workable mandates, they're hard to come by in a time of retrenchment, when the reigning argument is not about getting new benefits but giving up existing ones.
Even if a mandate should appear full-blown, it would have tough sledding against the monied interests and zealous ideologies that hold sway in both parties. Bradley's right to say that the current political system is broken; respect for it is scraping bottom. Fifty-nine percent of respondents in the poll said there was not a single elected official whom they admired. Newt Gingrich, leader of the Republican ``revolution,'' is admired by 4 percent of those managing to think of one admirable politician.
This surely is an unfair appraisal of individuals in politics, but it shows how much they are dwarfed by a system dominated by single interests that have zero tolerance for disagreement. These interests are backed by big bucks: They rate politicians simply on the basis of their willingness to come to heel. As a result, the public sees able men who aspire to the nation's highest office pledging never to act or think in a certain way, and sees them also fleeing from their own convictions. No wonder the public in general feels left out of the process and men of stature get out.
Any third party capable of gaining and exerting power faces at least two daunting tasks. One is raising the money required to organize and campaign. The other is bridling the tremendous force money plays in legislation. The outlook is not encouraging. MEMO: Mr. Morgan is a former publisher of The Virginian-Pilot and The
Ledger-Star. by CNB