Angry left and right are crowding out the practical middle
12:22 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 21, 2004
By William McKenzie / The Dallas Morning News
Maybe it happens this way in most elections. But it really seems the political moderates are getting squeezed in this presidential race. I found myself in a ringside seat to this clash recently in New York as I moderated a 45-minute exchange between Gary Bauer of the evangelical right and Joseph Hough of the Protestant left.I watched a verbal boxing match. And as I walked back to my hotel, I wondered, "Where have all the moderates gone?" Sadly, they're hard to find. John Kerry is riding his angrycrats and George W. Bush is doing the same with the GOP's perpetually mad crowd.The angry, fervent true believers from the left and right leave many of us in the middle wondering which way to go. The left's anger is pretty clear. It stems from the president's Iraq policy, his stem cell decision and his call for a gay marriage ban. And, of course, some angry lefties simply don't like George W. Bush, like the grumpy, resentful Michael Moore, who seethes with rage against Mr. Bush. The right is mad for different reasons. The GOP's angry wing thinks John Kerry won't make the tough calls around the world. Maybe yes, Maybe no. But Sen. Zell Miller came across at the GOP convention as an old-fashioned crank. What happened to the sunny conservatism Reaganites so fondly recalled just three months ago at the former president's funeral?It's hard to find because some true-believing conservatives – much like Michael Moore on the left – like being resentful. It's their natural state. They're lost without having a target to attack.This is going to get me in trouble, but the rise of radical Islam benefits their cause at just the right moment. Not one single conservative would want a 9-11, but some may find radical Islamists a convenient target, particularly since communists no longer matter. It helps their fund-raising drives, and gives them a new force to attack.Anger doesn't drive voters in the middle. They tend toward the practical, for the candidate who can best resolve Iraq, best improve the deficit and best give the economy enough juice. They mostly care about getting their problems solved.The downside is that moderates lack the ideals that propel the true believers. The belligerent left and right have strong beliefs. The practical middle looks at the world on a case-by-case basis. Thankfully, the moderate middle still matters in this campaign's closing weeks. With such a close election, the nominees and their strategists need them to close the deal. And one thing's for sure: Screamers like Michael Moore and Zell Miller won't reach the practical moderates. Carroll Doughtery of the Pew Center for the People and the Press says their recent polls show that "negativity" from both camps really bothers the middle.It seems to me that the candidate who understands this point reaches the practical middle and wins the White House. Before George Bush or John Kerry can do that, they're going to have to tone down their Zell Millers and Michael Moores.
William McKenzie is an editorial columnist for The Dallas Morning News. His e-mail address is wmckenzie@dallasnews.com.
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