COLUMN: Democrats need miracle worker

Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2003

After the recall election in California, concerns were abound that Democrats held little sway over the political direction of a liberal state, and the country as well. With 54 electoral votes, more than any other state, the Democratic Party desperately needed the polls to represent a liberal majority in California.

Despite the cooperative admonishment of soon to-be-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger by liberal presidential candidates like John Kerry and Gen. Wesley Clark, the landslide victory for the Republicans had many worried that if the Democratic candidates couldn't convince one state with their collaborative efforts, how could they expect to win the entire country in 2004?

It seemed unlikely, until ...

A recently published Gallup poll indicates President Bush's approval rating has dropped to just under 50 percent for the 65 and older age group, a group considered a Republican stronghold.

But a decline in Bush's approval ratings is not equal to an increase in Democratic approval ratings. A disapproval rating of 51 percent of the senior voting pool does not mean 51 percent approval of an as yet unnamed Democratic nominee.

While the above statistics prove very little, they do give hope that the uphill battle the Democrats are facing is not so much a 90-degree angle but rather a 95-degree angle with shallow handholds.

Three key issues stand between Democrats and the White House.

National defense is the first key issue. A Democrat with a strong opposition to nuclear arms and the continuation of the war on terrorism cannot defeat Bush. Even though the United States has not used a nuclear weapon on another country since World War II and has placed a moratorium on underground testing since 1992, voters' mouths water at the mere mentioning of nuclear weapons.

Americans love nukes more than they love reality TV, and so far Republicans are the only ones willing to openly support the national proliferation of weapons.

Republicans tend to believe that the quality of life is correlative with the size and strength of the military whereas Democrats believe that the quality of life is a comfort rating.

The issue is optimal security versus minimal encroachment of civil liberties, and the Democrats must find a candidate willing to stand somewhere in the middle.

The next key issue is health care. As the baby boomer generation becomes the Metamucil generation, the Democrats need to appeal to their nostalgic liberalism. Health care for all does just that.

With research in genetics advancing rapidly, nationwide health coverage is a must and the Democrats are the only ones willing to propose it.

The further genetic studies progress, the more likely it will be that in the not-so-distant future health insurance companies will require genetic testing before agreeing to insure individuals. Eventually, with the cracking of the genetic code, scientists will be able to determine the disease and likelihood that a health care applicant is prone to contract and/or develop. Before these "genetic codes of weakness" can be determined, everyone must be insured. The urgency of this measure cannot be overstated.

The third leg of the political crux is the issue of U.N. interaction and international relations. If America does not wake up from its jingoistic slumber, those who have been our allies in the past will shun us for fear of being associated with a megalomanical nation. America cannot forget that the Cold War ended just over 10 years ago, and the threat of another political ice age lurks just around the corner.

Since the war in Iraq, a war that may have ended too soon to secure a White House victory for the elephantine conservatives, Bush has been desperately struggling to find his second wind, namely a project that will secure a second term.

If the underdog Democrats hope to garner a win in 2004, which has seemed unlikely up to this point, they are going to have to take advantage of Bush's shortsighted goals and work doggedly to nominate a venerable candidate. No mediocre candidate will upset Bush in 2004.

The Democrats don't need a miracle, they need a miracle worker.

Eric Howerton is a Psychology and English-Philosophy major. He can be reached at erichow@unm.edu.