MichaelFauntroy.com

Eugene McCarthy's Courage

There is a certain irony in the recent announcement that former Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy died.  McCarthy is best known for his 1968 presidential campaign in which he became the darling of the anti-war movement in the Democratic party by challenging President Lyndon Johnson for the party's nomination war.  He once said he entered the primary race because Johnson “seems to have set no limit to the price which its willing to pay for a military victory.”  The irony for me lies in the fact that McCarthy’s statement is as relevant today for our current president who has us bogged down in a war as it was when he made the statement nearly 40 years ago.

He is credited with bringing into the political process tens of thousands of young Americans who cut their hair and were “clean for Gene”.  He ignited a new generation of political activists, some of whom are leaders of our current government.  His primary challenge of Johnson was the first shoe to fall that ended Johnson’s presidency.  After nearly losing the New Hampshire primary to McCarthy, President Johnson announced that he would no longer seek reelection.  There is an additional irony in the 1968 New Hampshire primary:  Johnson considered naming McCarthy his running mate just four years earlier.  That Johnson had been brought low after winning what had been the biggest landslide in U.S. history by someone he considered adding to the team only demonstrates more clearly the gumption with which McCarthy operated. 

We now have a president in George W. Bush who appears to be making some of the same mistakes that crushed Johnson’s presidency.  Bush, and his war sellers in the White House, Congress, and Pentagon, are obfuscating the truth, just like Johnson, General William Westmoreland, and others.  Team Bush is playing fast and loose with the truth to keep a lid on American public opinion in hopes to continue the charade of an exit strategy or plan for fixing a country that has yet to return to pre-war levels of electricity, drinkable water, oil production, and other fundamental indicators of success in Iraq.

It’s too bad whenever one person is known for only one thing because that “one thing” often obscures other important contributions; in McCarthy’s case, his willingness to take on Republican Red-baiter Joseph McCarthy.  However, in the case of Eugene McCarthy, the one thing for which he is best known is something from which generations of Americans can draw strength–doing the right thing for a cause bigger than yourself.  He, like Rosa Parks, Lech Walesa, Nelson Mandela, and countless others around the world shows what one courageous person can do–move an entire nation toward what is right. 

While McCarthy never reached his ultimate goal–the presidency–he certainly helped moved the country toward the end of the Vietnam War, a welcome move for many then and now.  That is a lesson that perhaps Republicans should revisit.  The country needs someone from the president’s own party to challenge the legitimacy of the Iraq War and lead the nation into a new day.   

© Michael K. Fauntroy, December 11, 2005

Rice in 2008?

People with nothing better to do with their time are trying to drum up support for a Condoleeza Rice presidential run in 2008.  A group has formed to draft her into the race, “Americans for Dr. Rice” and build public support for her potential candidacy.  Among the biggest supporters of a Rice bid is political strategist, Fox News contributor, and profiteer extraordinaire  Dick Morris.  Morris, perhaps not so coincidently and in keeping with his negative use of the Clintons to line his pockets, has a written book titled Condi vs. Hilary in which he argues that Rice is the only impediment to the Clintons once again calling the White House home.  One gets the sense that his promotion of Rice is less about her and more about his hatred of the Clintons. 

I suspect that many of the Republicans who want Rice in the 2008 race desire so because they need her to provide cover for them as they conduct what will likely be the most negative campaign of personal political destruction the country has ever seen if Senator Hilary Clinton were to run.  It’s harder to charge gender bias when the candidate in question is a woman.  If the last decade and a half are any indication, what Hilary Clinton will go through in the 2008 race will make every previous political campaign look like a walk in the park.

Rice supporters also understand the potential gender gap the GOP will face if there is no credible woman seeking the nomination in a year in which Hilary Clinton will likely get an over abundance of press attention.  If Hilary runs, and every intention is that she will, and the GOP has no credible woman seeking its nomination, then “down ticket” Republican candidates will be in jeopardy if women voters decide to “support their own.”  That could mean the end of Republican dominance in U.S. politics following what will likely be a down year for the party in 2006.

I don’t think Rice can get the nomination.  There is no indication thus far that she is a compelling campaigner.  She can’t win enough southern primaries to get the nomination.  And, more importantly, there is no reason to believe that the numerous ambitious GOPs out there, including southerners Newt Gingrich, Haley Barbour, George Allen, and Bill Frist, among many others, will simply step aside to accommodate some Negro who has never held elected office.  Their egos are far too substantial to believe that they think its important for 2008 to be the year in which the GOP stands up for diversity.  The fact that Rice is an affirmative action supporter will likely cost her some primary support as well.  Oh, and I almost forgot: she’s Black.  That doesn’t really go over well with enough Republicans to win a presidential nomination.  There are too many Republicans who joined the party because they thought the Democrats became too cozy with African Americans.

Most importantly, though, Rice will have to overcome the negatives associated with being so closely attached to her biggest patron:  President George W. Bush.  Being among the biggest cheerleaders for one of the country’s worst presidents is not the kind of thing that wins friends and neutralizes enemies.  It will force her to spend an inordinate amount of time explaining and defending the past rather than prescribing plans for the future.

The cynic in me believes that many of the Rice supporters are actually targeting moderate White women with the hope that they will stay with the party and not join Team Hilary.  Besides, Rice strikes me as someone in the mold of Colin Powell and Mario Cuomo: someone who wants to be president but doesn’t want to run for the job.  I could be wrong, but I think the Rice supporters are spitting in the wind on this one. 

© Michael K. Fauntroy, November 30, 2005