August 8, 2000

Lieberman on the Ticket

Alpha Gore’s choice of Orthodox Jewish Senator Joe Lieberman from Connecticut as his vice presidential running mate has generated considerable buzz, most of it of the nature that greeted GOP veep candidate Dick Cheney:  Positives:  Good, solid citizen, works well with others, intelligent, grown-up, straightforward and forthright.  Negatives:  Unexciting, skewing older, uninspiring speechmaker, etc.  Cheney blew many of these misconceptions about himself out of the water, and it’s likely Lieberman will do the same.   A prediction here is that Lieberman in Los Angeles next week will give as good a speech, but not better than, Cheney’s fine effort in Philadelphia.

The Republicans have not, for now, thrown Lieberman’s voting record out on display as the Demos did with Cheney’s.  Likely because Lieberman’s votes largely agree with George W.’s ideas on many issues, and the GOP hasn’t quite figured out how to exploit this agreement just yet.

They are wary of the Demos quickly tried and failed to exploit Cheney’s supposedly “right wing” voting record.

In fact, one can already envision during the presidential debates, George W. turning to Alpha and saying, “why should people vote for you just to get Joe Lieberman?  They can get practically the same guy as the top banana - President - right away by voting for me.”

As for Joe Leiberman’s being the first Jewish-American on a major party presidential ticket speaks well for the times we live in.  It truly doesn’t matter what religion a person who seeks public office practices – what matters is character and vision.  Some people, too many perhaps, but there will always be some, who will hold Lieberman’s religion against him.  Such people are so ignorant, they almost shouldn’t be allowed to vote.

One cyncial appraisal of Lieberman’s spot on the Demo ticket is that it is Good for Gore but Great for Hillary.   Under this scenario, pundits will watch closely to see how much time Lieberman spends campaigning for the Ms. Rodham in New York.  The feeling here is that Joe will spend a lot of time “nailing down” New York for Gore, which simultaneously gives Rodham a big boost of her own.  Lieberman also brings good strength to Gore in Florida and California, notwithstanding Lieberman’s perceived anit-Hollywood culture-war bashing.

Finally, we live in historic times, in this lifetime now a woman and now a Jew have been within striking distance of the highest office in the U.S. government.  Granted, these two particular “firsts” have been put forth by the Democrats.  However, it won’t be long before the first black American is on a national ticket.  And the betting here is that the GOP will cross this important barrier, with either Colin Powell heading a ticket in 2004 or 2008, or fast-climbing Oklahoma congressman J.C. Watts getting a veep nod in 2012.  But that’s an awful long time to look ahead, especially when the upcoming presidential race promises so much fun and historic trappings.

--Dick Acorn