< PREVIOUS ] [ 1999 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >
Although most of us probably think that there's plenty of 1999 left for us to worry about, that's only because we're not quite ready to concern ourselves with the 2000 presidential campaign until they're counting the ballots in New Hampshire next February.
But there are people without anything better to do, and they've already made the decisions for us. Despite the challenge from former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, Vice-President Al Gore will win the Democratic nomination.
As for the Republican nomination, the authorities have declared that it belongs to Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
The name is familiar, but he's not a junior. His father, president of the United States from 1989 to 1993, is George H.W. Bush -- two middle initials, as opposed to the son's one.
Even so, some still call him Junior, to differentiate
one Bush from another. Molly Ivins, my favorite source of
insight into the enchanting political lore of the Lone Star
State, refers to him as the Shrub.
To date, I've found two things to like about Bush the Younger. One is how he handled the proposed merger of the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railroads back in 1995 and 1996.
Unlike our Roy Romer, Bush did not consult his list of campaign contributors and announce his support for the merger. Instead, he asked the Texas Railroad Commission to study it, and said he would go by its recommendation.
The commission accurately predicted that the UP-SP merger would be a disaster for Texas. Shipping rates would go up and service would deteriorate. Only now, more than two years later, has service returned to normal levels there -- for months, trains were stalled all over Texas, and its shipper were losing millions of dollars each month.
Putting the interests of his constituents ahead of the interests of Wall Street, Bush announced his opposition to the merger and lobbied against it.
This was rather shocking, seeing as the governors of other states that had a lot to lose in the merger -- Roy Romer of Colorado and Michael Leavitt of Utah -- cared a lot more about pleasing billionaire Phil Anschutz than they did about looking after the interests of their citizens.
The railroad merger was a question of priorities, and Bush came down on the right side.
The other likable thing about Bush is that as the
scrutiny of his past intensifies because he's becoming a
national figure, he has proclaimed that When I was young
and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible.
That's a fair statement. With age presumably comes some degree of wisdom -- or in a certain case of which I have personal knowledge, perhaps not wisdom, but a strong craving for afternoon naps and quiet evenings with books that exceeds any desire for any known form of entertainment or excitement.
However, a large segment of the political-media complex won't leave it at that. Friday's Wall Street Journal had a front-page story about the rumors of youthful cocaine use that won't go away.
Assuming that he hasn't been packing his nose recently, why does this matter?
Part of it is mere politics. Such tales have ever been a feature of presidential elections, starting with Thomas Jefferson's alleged cowardice during the Revolutionary War and Andrew Jackson's dueling and alleged bigamy. Opponents will use whatever they can to discredit someone.
But part of the Bush whisper campaign must be blamed on a modern phenomenon: the War on Drugs.
Al Gore, Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, among others, all confessed to some dabbling in their youth. They also seem eager to imprison today's youngsters for doing what they did, thereby confirming an observation once made on these pages by J. Elyse Singleton -- the only certain long-term effect of youthful drug use is that users become sanctimonious hypocrites 25 years later.
If it can be shown that a youthful dabbler can grow up into a productive adult, then a major tenet of the War on Drugs -- protect our children at all costs, lest they become enslaved derelicts -- is lost.
So to support the War on Drugs, the American political
process must work to eliminate every candidate who was ever
young and irresponsible.
Thus the rumors about Gov.
Bush, as opposed to any examination of his record in
office, some of which might actually be relevant to his
fitness for the presidency.
When considering the youthful follies of middle-aged
candidates, we could do worse than to remember the words of
the great Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes,
Jr.: As life is action and passion, it is required of a
man that he should share the passion and action of his
time, at peril of being judged not to have lived.
< PREVIOUS ] [ 1999 Index ] [ Ed Quillen HOME ] [ SEARCH ] [ NEXT >