November 8, 2002
By DERRICK Z. JACKSON
FROM THE testimonials, Paul Wellstone was the face of the Democratic Party. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle called Wellstone the ''soul of the Senate.'' Senator John Kerry called Wellstone ''the pied piper of modern politics. So many people heard him and wanted to follow him in his fight.''
Senator Jean Carnahan of Missouri said Wellstone ''stayed true to his beliefs.'' Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa said Wellstone ''was my best friend in the Senate.'' Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said, ''Our nation has lost one of its most passionate voices for those who most often have no voice in Washington.'' Senator Joe Lieberman said Wellstone ''never wavered in his courageous determination to be a voice for the voiceless.''
Soul. Courage. Voice for the voiceless. That surely described Wellstone, the Democratic senator from Minnesota who died two weeks ago in a plane crash just before the midterm elections. Wellstone was known for his fights against tax and welfare cuts, against rushes to war, and for health care.
That does not describe his fellow Democrats. The tragedy beyond his own death is that he was not the pied piper portrayed by Kerry with legions behind him. The cautious Democrats heard him and fled his politics as if they had encountered Legionnaires' disease. They ran right into the cold shower of crushing defeat. The shivering Democrats have been exposed as members of a party without soul or passion. They have discovered the price of cowardice.
The Republicans added to their majority in the House. They regained control of the Senate. Democrats will replace Republican governors in states critical in presidential politics - Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania - but inept Democratic gubernatorial campaigns in heavily Democratic Massachusetts, Maryland, and New York resulted in Republican victories. Georgia has its first Republican governor since Reconstruction.
Give the Republicans credit. They know what they stand for. Tax cuts. Guns. Bombs. Oil. Big business. Old boy networks. Privatization. Plundering the earth. Pillorying and padlocking the poor. Party-line votes.
The Democrats? One day they are for peace and justice; the next they are a bunch of brown-nosing Republicrats. In 1991, for example, the Democrats held a 57-43 majority in the Senate. But several conservative Democrats (funny that ''liberal Republican'' is not a common term) went with the Republicans to confirm party-line conservative Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.
Democratic President Clinton won the White House in 1992 with great promises of fairness, then chickened out on universal health care and gay rights in the military. Clinton was a master Republicrat. His administration ended welfare and helped sell more US arms than ever to the rest of the world. Little happened on gun control or public school infrastructure. While the economy did soar, so did the gap between the rich and the poor. Most Republicans would envy such a record.
Clinton's would-be successor, Al Gore, had neither the charisma to be a believable Republicrat or the conviction to be a progressive Democrat. The Republican winner, George W. Bush, rapidly evolved into a master at keeping things party-line simple. His campaign for what became a $1.35 trillion tax cut was so successful that 12 Democratic senators defected to help create a 58-33 victory for Bush.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Bush has kept Americans so focused on Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein that the Democrats have yet to fight against a sputtering economy and an imploding health care system. The Democrats have been so afraid to challenge jingoism that 29 Democratic senators went along with 48 Republicans to give Bush the authority to unilaterally attack Iraq without provocation.
Kerry, ignoring Wellstone's flute, voted for the war. Despite calling Wellstone his best friend, Harkin voted for the war. Despite praising Wellstone for his courage, Lieberman voted for the war. Despite calling Wellstone the ''soul'' of the Democratic Party, Daschle voted for the war. New York's Hillary Clinton voted for the war. Clinton is obviously learning fast from her husband.
Kerry, Lieberman, and Democratic Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, who also voted for the war, are presidential hopefuls for 2004. Somehow, they think that cheerleading for Bush will help them beat Bush. Such thinking failed Senators Jean Carnahan of Missouri and Max Cleland of Georgia.
Despite voting for Bush's tax cuts and his war, the two Democrats were ousted by Republicans. Despite voting for the tax cut and the war, Landrieu has been forced into a runoff against a Republican. Kerry praised Wellstone as a pied piper, but the Democrats have actually followed the Republicans into the trap of copycat politics. The Democrats, who could be a voice for the voiceless, have instead discovered that the copycat got their tongue.
Derrick Z. Jackson's e-mail address is jackson@globe.com.
This story ran on page A23 of the Boston Globe on 11/8/2002.
© Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.