Sunday, April 17, 2005 :::
Pining for the Fjords
This morning's sermon from Rev. Schapiro scolds the Commonwealth's candidates for "dumbing down" the content of their campaigns.
I guess that column on postal reform was just too hot to handle.
On an intellectual level, Jeff is certainly correct. It is sad to see campaigns resort to sound-bytes, flash and hot buttons to peddle their wares. Deep and meaningful debate on serious issues would do the body politic some good.
But it just won't happen.
And it never has.
Jeff gives us what is no doubt a personal favorite example of sluggardly campaigning:
For example, Republican Jim Gilmore's mantra in the 1997 governor's race -- "No Car Tax!" -- wasn't just three words; it was three syllables.
And guess what? It worked. Easy to grasp, easy to sell. But a three syllable motto hardly makes for good copy.
Jeff reaches back to the 1940s and even the 1920s for other examples of political shorthand, and along the way manages to slap pollsters, campaign directors and...gasp...ad men.
Well, Jeff, we just "Think Different." Not even grammar is safe from our evil clutches.
But Jeff manages to turn back into the wind, all the better position from which to unload a broadside at Tim Kaine, Jerry Kilgore and...Russ Potts!?!
For example, Kaine; former Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore, the likely Republican nominee, and Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., R-Winchester, an independent, have little to say about Medicaid and its threat to the state's financial well-being.
The cost of Medicaid, a health-care program for the poor, is ballooning, sopping up at least 20 percent of this year's $1 billion surplus. This is not an isolated event. Rather, it is part of a pattern of budget-busting problems that -- the 2004 tax increase notwithstanding -- could again imperil Virginia's recently reaffirmed Triple-A credit rating, the highest possible.
But Medicaid is not sexy. For starters, most voters have no contact with the program. Thus, it has a small and almost voiceless constituency. Further, because Medicaid's purpose, structure and financing are difficult to explain, the candidates just don't.
Well, this is a fair point. None of them are talking about the great, gobbling Medicaid monster. And they should. But I doubt even they have a clear picture of how this program is eating away at the state's finances. What is most interesting about Jeff's listing of the silent is who does not appear.
That's right...it's George Fitch. Of all the candidates out there right now, Fitch is making the most intellectually interesting and challenging arguments about government spending. He's even got a list put together identifying (he says) more than $2 billion worth of needless spending and inefficiency. Fitch's entire campaign is based upon rationalizing government activity.
And that may be why no one is paying attention to him.
Not even Jeff, in a column devoted to scolding the other candidates on their intellectually challenged campaigns.
This is not bias, dear reader. This is laziness. I agree with Jeff that people deserve more discussion and debate on the great issues of the day from their candidates -- even when those issues would put a room full of insomniacs into REM sleep.
But I also wish Jeff would take his eye from the horse race for just a moment to see that there really is someone making these arguments. Give him a ring, Jeff. Do it today. You'll get all the good discussion...and good copy...your heart desires.
::: posted by Norman Leahy at 4/17/2005
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