Lieberman Elaborates On Campaign Critique
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 5, 2002; Page A02
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) said yesterday that the Gore presidential campaign message in 2000 was "too subject to misunderstanding and not representative either of the extraordinary prosperity that occurred" under President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.
Lieberman, who was Gore's vice presidential running mate, added that the "people vs. the powerful" theme Gore championed was "also not expressive of the fiscally responsible pro-growth, grow-the-middle-class campaign we were running."
The Connecticut senator, widely seen as having presidential ambitions of his own, reiterated that he would not seek the Democratic nomination in 2004 if Gore decides to run again. "I've said that I will not run if he runs, and I will not," Lieberman said. He added that Gore's "whole record is consistent with New Democratic values, which is growth and fiscal responsibility."
Lieberman's remarks yesterday on "Fox News Sunday" continued an unusual public spat between a party's former standard-bearer and his former running mate over past campaign strategy. Last week, Lieberman had criticized Gore's populist message for making it difficult to win over middle-class independent voters "who don't see America as us versus them."
The rift over the rhetoric of the 2000 campaign reveals an important division among Democrats regarding their strategy against Republicans this fall and against President Bush in 2004.
Gore, responding to earlier criticism from Lieberman, wrote an op-ed article in yesterday's New York Times arguing that his "people vs. the powerful" message of the 2000 campaign "was the right choice" then and remains "the central dynamic" of today's political debate. "Standing up for the people, not the powerful, was the right choice in 2000," Gore wrote. "In fact it is the ground of the Democratic Party's being, our meaning and our mission."
Lieberman responded yesterday that Gore was "taking a poke at a point of view that a lot of people hold and, I think, pretty effectively making his case." Lieberman said, "I guess I would have added a word or two and said that we believe in a government that will stand up and fight for the people, for the public interest against powerful, private interests, including business, if they treat the public unfairly."
On ABC's "This Week," Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said Gore was "going back to the old class warfare."
On NBC's "Meet the Press," Republican strategist Ed Gillespie said Gore and other Democrats incorrectly "think that ours is a country where people are seething with resentment over what others have and what we don't have." Gillespie cited his Irish immigrant father who worked as a janitor in contrast to Gore's privileged upbringing. "What I resent is Al Gore trying to pretend . . . that he's something different, and Al Gore thinking that an immigrant's kid can't figure that out."
Also on NBC, Democratic strategist Robert Shrum replied that "the question here is not where you come from but where you stand." Citing the Bush administration's tax cuts, Shrum said, "There is a social Darwinism at the heart of the Republican Party that says that those who have done very well in life should get more."
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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