In the End, Head vs. Heart

This debate was different. Perhaps it was the fact that Al Gore and George W. Bush sat more casually at a curved desk with moderator Jim Lehrer. The candidates bent over backward to avoid much conflict on foreign policy issues. The first headline, though, was that Bush knew foreign policy issues.

Bush projected confidence on the subject, which dominated nearly the first half of their 90-minute discussion in Winston-Salem, N.C. While covering a wide range of subjects, from Yugoslavia to Somalia, the vice president and the Texas governor generally agreed on broad foreign policy goals. For all of his attempts to distinguish himself from Clinton-Gore foreign policy stands, he spent a good deal of time agreeing with actions the administration has taken overseas.

“We can’t be all things to all people,” he said. But then he mostly allowed the wisdom of American intervention in Yugoslavia, Panama, Grenada and others in recent years. He differed from the vice president by saying the United States should not become involved in “nation building” abroad after the actual fighting had stopped. He cited Haiti as one example.

Gore cited the United States’ responsibility as the “natural leader of the world” to help keep the peace wherever it appears to be warranted or necessary. But he balanced that by saying that Washington must be cautious about wielding military strength. He pointed out that what the Marshall Plan accomplished in Europe post-World War II was, yes, “nation building.”

The candidates’ exchanges were sharper when they switched to domestic issues. As in the past, Gore was more detailed in his answers and Bush more emotional; in response to Gore’s statistics about the poor record of Texas on insuring poor families, Bush deflected the issue by saying, “If he’s trying to allege that I’m a hardhearted person and I don’t care about children, he’s absolutely wrong.”

Bush also avoided a direct challenge from Gore on Bush’s failure to support a tough hate-crimes law in Texas after the brutal, racially motivated dragging death of an African American man. Again, the generalities won out: The governor’s response was, essentially, that the convicted murderers in this case will die, so what’s the problem?

To many California voters, Gore remained more in tune on issues such as abortion, gun control and the environment. But Bush’s chatty language and relaxed posture were positively Reaganesque; Gore’s frustration at his opponent’s broad answers visibly simmered under the surface.

Gore’s command of facts and consequences, though couched more modestly than in the first debate, continues to be impressive; Bush openly aimed for the heart, with declarations of patriotism and personal belief, and often succeeded. It’s worked before.