|
I caught "Gladiator" on DVD this weekend. It was striking what an uncanny resemblance 2nd century Rome bears to 21st century Washington. The old crowd reassembling in the capital looks oh-so-solid, powerful and impenetrable -- not unlike the emperor Commodus, who, as it happens, was also a spoiled, second-generation ruler.
And I'm sure that W. is as shocked as Commodus was to find that his erstwhile adversary, Maximus McCain, is still alive -- he thought he'd finished him off at the Battle of Carolina. But not only is Maximus alive, he's primed and ready, as he put it, "to have blood all over the floor of the Senate until we accede to the demands of the people." Which, in this case, are to clean up the political system and end the legalized bribery masquerading as fund-raising.
Who would have believed, for example, that Commerce Secretary-designate Don Evans would have the chutzpah to send out a fund-raising letter for the Bush transition team even after he had been nominated? Who's going to say no? Certainly not anyone who wants the Commerce Department on his side. It's just a more efficient version of the old practice of going door-to-door and offering local businesses "protection" for a "small fee."
The bad news for W. is that McCain now considers it his sacred duty to embody the people's demand for reform and, for starters, force the McCain-Feingold bill to the floor not when it's convenient for the Bush administration -- which would be somewhere between the 22nd century and never -- but right now.
Emperor W.'s aging palace guard -- some of whom date from the glorious reign of Geraldus Augustus -- would love to give McCain the fatal thumbs down as they so quickly did to Linda Chavez. She was fed to the lions as soon as she proved to be "a distraction." But McCain is protected by the same thing that protected Maximus: the gladiator's popularity with the mob. Or, more politely, the voters.
Which is why Bush's minions are being so very delicate with their comments. They don't want reform -- but neither do they want the lions turned on them . "We clearly support campaign finance reform," newly anointed White House Chief of Staff Andy Card told Tim Russert, quickly adding, "but it has to be across the board" -- imperial-speak for "but only after we attach amendments we know will kill it."
As the crowd-pleasing McCain made his grand entrance into the capital city -- done not by chariot but via the Sunday morning shows -- there was a smile on his lips but a steely gleam in his eyes. Clearly, he will prove to be as threatening an opponent for W. in the imperial capital as he was in the outlying territories of New Hampshire and Michigan.
His motto is carpe diem -- and with good reason. Twice before, at the beginning of the Carter administration in 1977 and the Clinton administration in 1993, both the public support and the votes in Congress were there to pass major campaign finance reform. But both times the reformers procrastinated, the legislation was delayed, and the opposition had time to organize and eventually kill the bills. "With campaign reform," Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, told me "the operating principle is move quickly or die. As the clock ticks, you get further away from the abuses of the past election and closer to the urgent need to raise more money for the next election."
Besides, since W. says he wants to start with bipartisan bills, what could be better than one we know already has wide support in both houses? With the advent of nine new Democratic senators committed to McCain-Feingold, McCain now has the filibuster-proof 60 votes that he needs to ward off the nefarious Mitch McConnell. And the recent endorsements of two former opponents, Senators Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Gordon Smith of Oregon, make it less likely that Republicans who supported the bill in the past will backtrack.
"The dam is starting to break," Mark Salter, McCain's chief of staff and fellow gladiator, told me. "Growing numbers of members running for reelection feel they are losing control of their campaigns. It's not just independent expenditure committees running ads against them that are the problem; it's the groups running ads for them that can turn out to be counterproductive, with uncoordinated messages -- which the candidates cannot influence." Rep. Lindsey Graham agrees: "There are people trying to help you with a message they didn't run by you that makes you look like an idiot sometimes."
McCain needs to remind the political establishment, especially those up for reelection in 2002 (as, interestingly, both Cochran and Smith are), that there will be a price to pay for wavering or ignoring the issue. It's clear, after all, that some will come to reform only as an alternative to political death.
"We are talking about timing," said Senate Republican Whip Don Nickles, leading the charge of the "What's the Rush? There's always the Next Century Brigade." And he's right. It is all about timing -- and the time is now.
As Maximus McCain enters the arena for what looks to be a ferocious battle, we who were about to give up hope salute him.
[ Printer-friendly version ]
|
