10 rivals sounded Clintonian themes
NEW YORK
IN THE 2000 campaign, Bill Clinton was the embarrassing sinner the Democrats tried to stuff in the basement. In yesterday's presidential candidates debate, he was back in the living room. Democrats all across the stage praised the Clinton years.
They are not yet talking about him with the misty eyes Republicans have for Ronald Reagan. With too many candidates to allow any deep spelling out of issues, this debate was noteworthy for how many of them leaned on the formerly pilloried Clinton as a forgiven pillar of the party.
The 10 candidates took their turns on repeating the themes that won for Clinton in 1992. They talked jobs. They talked health care. They talked working people. They talked trade with compassion. All were Clinton themes. The boldest statement came from Representative Richard Gephardt, who said his proudest moment in the House was his support of the 1993 Clinton economic plan. He said that even though it was unpopular and even though the Democrats lost Congress to the Newt Gingrich revolution, "we did the right thing."
This overshadowed squabbling among the candidates to knock Howard Dean off his pedestal. They accused him of flip-flops on free trade and cutting medical benefits to seniors. Underwhelming in his first debate appearance was retired General Wesley Clark.
As far as personalities went, the most forceful candidates were John Edwards, who was semi-Clintonesque in relating issues to his upbringing, and Dennis Kucinich, who was unapologetically opposed to NAFTA and made a strong tie between spending on the war in Iraq and the failure to spread wealth at home. Carol Mosley Braun got in the strongest pledge to fight for a single-payer health care system. The best example of misguided trade policy was delivered by Al Sharpton, who brought up the specter of American slavery.
The fascinating thing about the 10 Democrats is if you could piece them together, you would have a formidable challenger to Bush. The faltering of Bush has clearly increased their hunger and fire.
They are even talking about taking back the issue of patriotism, which the Republicans seem to claim sole ownership of. Gephardt exclaimed about the Clinton years, "Why wouldn't we want to go back to that?" If Bush keeps faltering, one of them just might get Americans to ask the same question.
Derrick Z. Jackson's e-mail address is jackson@globe.com. 