There is, of course, a metaphor here. It has taken me a while to appreciate Bob Dole. He’d always seemed bitter, distant and utterly conventional – ground zero Beltway business-as-usual, a man whose lack of philosophy and imagination seemed to indicate an absent, of principle; a hollow man. I once asked Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, another Midwestern war hero, if there was anything there beneath Dole’s sharp humor and gruff exterior. “There’s a lot there,” Kerrey flashed, angered by my facile thickness. This is a common reaction among Dole’s peers in both parties. I suspect he would win a secret presidential ballot against Bill Clinton among Senate Democrats, who regard him-universally-as honorable, reasonable, sensible, solid.
Little of that comes across on the stump. I’ve watched Dole attempt New Hampshire in three different campaigns now, and it’s always a dreadful spectacle. I remember a college student asking him about acid rain in 1988 and Dole testily replying, “That bill’s in markup.” Two weeks ago, he was asked how he felt about Clinton’s national service program, AmeriCorps. Another candidate might have seized the chance to rhapsodize about the importance of service or the weaknesses of Clinton’s program (Dole has staunchly supported the Police Corps, a far more rigorous, worthy form of youthful service)-but the senator talked budget numbers: Clinton would be getting less money than he wanted for the program. Indeed, when facing civilians, Dole almost always seems to be speaking English as a second language.
Except when he speaks about himself, about his impoverished childhood and service in the military. He did it to some effect in 1988- and he’s starting to do it again now, as his “inevitability” evaporates. It does not come easily. Talking about yourself excessively, celebrating yourself, is what passes for “honesty” among baby boomers. Dole’s generation valued self-discipline over self-actualization. And this can lead to grisly campaign moments: last week, as Dole visited a New Hampshire pie company that billed itself as “cause-oriented,” the proprietor described his corporate"philosophy" as"TNH: Trust ‘N’ Hugs"–and then tried to hug Dole. Yuck. The senator smiled, endured the embarrassment. But one wonders what Dole really thinks of the self-indulgence and squalid confessionalism that have debased our public culture. Part of the reason he works so hard at stoicism is that his feelings are so deep, powerful and authentic that he is in constant danger of being overwhelmed by them-especially when he talks about the boys who didn’t come home from the war, and the generosity of Kansas neighbors who stood by him throughout his ordeal.
But Dole will have to walk that emotional tightrope these next few weeks, if he hopes to win the nomination. He will have to campaign on the brink of tears. He’ll have to prove that he is more than just a barker in the Beltway Bazaa – and, in a way, that is appropriate comeuppanee for a career in which he, arguably, lost track of the American people, in which his reality became the Washington of lawyers and interests, of tiny clauses inserted into tax bills. The public outrage over that Washington is so intense that presidential politics now seems almost malarial, subject to hectic chills and delusional fevers. Any stray zillionaire can establish himself as a phenomenon by opening his wallet and proclaiming himself Not A Politician. We are lousy with Flavors of the Week. (Indeed, Dole’s great hope is that Steve Forbes has nearly a month to melt away-and will, as it becomes dear that he is addicted to negative ads, that there are embarrassments in his tax returns and gaping holes in his flat tax.)
“This is serious business,” Dole pleads. But we seem, less and less, a serious country. We are too impatient to be serious. Much of the public anger with Washington is justified; but the anger is undisciplined and uninformed. It has fueled extremism in both parties, a witless populism that leads politicians away from consensus. “You’ve got to be careful,” Dole continued. “You want a president who is experienced, willing to listen, flexible. . . You don’t want someone so rigid he never had a second thought in his life.”
But how does that come across in Iowa and New Hampshire? Does it sound like a desperate old man defending the status quo? It may well. And yet, after listening to the other candidates in this pitiful Republican field promising all sorts of simple, stupid, radical schemes to reform everything – even the lugubrious Senator Lugar wants to dynamite the Internal Revenue Service and replace it with an utterly ridiculous national sales tax – I find Dole’s stubborn unwillingness to be irresponsible absolutely refreshing. Moreover, his belated, halting effort to explain himself – his life, his sacrifice- seems the most honest, affecting politics available this primary season. His is a sad, and awkward, and very moving campaign.
