I don’t know if I’ve mentioned the Decembrist, a blog by Mark Schmitt. This entry is a good example of why I check it out. I don’t entirely agree with the way he applies the idea to John Kerry’s campaign, but I think he has hit on something important to remember.
Digression: is it even worth putting in that ‘I don’t entirely agree’ disclaimer every time I link to something? Heck, I don’t entirely agree with everything I write myself. I certainly wouldn’t waste your time with a blogger who lacked sufficient originality to occasionally piss me off; if there is an individual post somewhere I wouldn’t fiddle with, I will let you know. Still, there’s that whole endorsement issue. So, to be clear: I endorse the blog in the sense that I encourage you to read it, Gentle Reader, but please do not infer full agreement with its content. End Digression
Anyway, the bumper-sticker version of the post is this: It's not what you say about the issues, it's what the issues say about you. Mr. Schmitt emphasizes that in a winning-the-election sense, but it’s important as a basic paradigm.
Look, there is essentially zero chance that John Kerry’s policies will be implemented as they are detailed on the web site. Even if Senator Kerry wins the White House, and I think he will, and even if the Democrats take 50 Senate seats, and I remain hopeful, and even if there are 217 Democrats in the House, which is a long shot, a slate of policies does not get passed just like that. So it’s important to keep in mind that a President is not just a set of policies, but also a set of skills, a set of priorities, a set of principles, and a set of habits.
Compare the last two Democratic presidents, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. They had surprisingly similar policy cards, vastly different skills, somewhat different priorities (most obviously on foreign matters), and quite different ways of coming to decisions. They also swam in entirely different waters, of course, but even so, Bill Clinton was a more effective governor than Jimmy Carter not because of his policies but because of his skills. The contrast is even more obvious between the last two Republican presidents, George “Poppy” Bush and Ronald Reagan.
This isn’t just the famous character issue, although that is a part of it. This is a sense that it really is hard to predict what a presidency will be like. The current one is the starkest example of this, of course. But because nobody really knows what will come up and when and how, it’s always terribly important to have a President who has good principles to rely on, good advisors to rely on, and good habits to rely on. I do think that John Kerry has those (at least in far greater supply than any other candidate this cycle).
Is the issues-character link that Mr. Schmitt suggests a winning campaign strategy? I don’t really think so. But I do think that a discussion of the idea behind it is a winning strategy for governing, in the long run.
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-Vardibidian.