With a Week to Go, ‘Dole’ Is the Message

The nanosecond it became evident Bob Dole would be the GOP presidential nominee, pundits predicted that his oratorical skills would be no match for our feel-your-pain communicator-in-chief.

As a campaign operative who had come to know the senator while working against him (1988 primary) and for him; as a GOP party staffer who marveled at his mastery of substance and politics in leadership meetings, and as a friend who enjoyed his snappy repartee at small dinner parties, I scoffed at such predictions. I contended Clinton’s vaunted public glibness would ultimately prove to be a campaign liability, and Dole’s heartland authenticity would be his strongest asset.

But in this excruciatingly painful political year, I’ve been proved wrong. The incumbent, who has been judged dishonest by a majority of his fellow Americans, who rose from political death only by embracing conservative themes and taking credit for the work of his opponents, has literally talked his candidacy into a commanding and consistent lead. He says nothing and everything, he double-talks, prevaricates and plagiarizes, back-flips, wavers and waffles, but through it all never fails to include the tidy, repetitive sound bite delivered misty-eyed, directly into the camera.

Something has gone frighteningly wrong when the political process rewards dishonor and callowness while penalizing honesty, substance and unparalleled public service. Though snickered at by the Clintonistas, Dole supporters cheered when he barked last week, “Wake up America! You’re doing yourself an injustice if you vote for Bill Clinton.” Dole loyalists not only agreed with the admonition, but appreciated seeing Dole unleashed, Dole the fighter. They know Dole, and have been perpetually frustrated that their neighbors don’t see Dole the man.

Oddly, for all its glare, the political process has failed to illuminate the extraordinary essence of this man. Even if Dole wins, and I still fervently believe he can, he will ascend to the highest office in the land an unknown man. Unlike local and state contests where candidates are generally better known by virtue of their proximity, voters in a national contest really need to be walked through a candidate’s personal biography.

Voters are smart enough to sort through policy, programmatic and philosophical differences of their presidential choices. But what they can’t glean without repeated demonstrations is the nature, the real stuff of a candidate--a key vote-determinant at the presidential level.

Striking is the disparity of opinion between those who know Dole best (notably his Democratic colleagues) and the public at large. To his friends and co-workers, he is applauded as singularly smart, substantive, honest, trustworthy, disciplined, dedicated, fair to a fault, affectionate, compassionate and hilarious. The public has rarely been treated to this Dole.

In their obsessive fear that the real Dole would “step on message,” his campaign transformed him into an automaton. So afraid his straight-talk, humor or well-deserved “dark side” would distract from policy pronouncements, the campaign straight-jacketed him. Not everyday in every way, but slowly, inexorably, sadly, they undermined the confidence that was the underpinning of previous victories.

In fairness to the handlers, the real Dole did step on message with that wry Midwestern humor, or his Depression-era and war-wound-derived dark side, or his habitual legislate-ese.

But in the long haul, “the message” can always be cleaned up by campaign surrogates and ads. What a campaign can’t do, they should let Dole do. In the parlance, “Let Dole be Dole.”

So what if he steps on message? What’s Clinton’s message? He’s running as a conservative. He’s a better campaign actor, but no one believes he will govern as a conservative. Clinton can never draw on inner convictions because he has none, but Dole’s whole life has been driven by a core set of principles manifested in common-sense lawmaking.

In this final week, let us see that Dole. Unleash him. Toss the talking points. Let him joke, garble and spit fire. Don’t make him pander to constituencies that should be his--and would be, if they didn’t feel they were being pandered to. Get off his back and in the face of those ship-jumping rats who couldn’t shine his shoes.

Don’t worry about stepping on message. With a week to go, Dole is the message.