Gore Triangulates Jude Wanniski August 23, 2000

It was Dick Morris who taught Bill Clinton how to “triangulate.” The Republicans are so stupid they will never figure it out. Every time the Republicans stake out a position, you drive your stake just to the left of theirs. Not by a lot, just enough to show that your hearts are with the ordinary folks, not the Special Interests or The Rich. Remember House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s assault on the federal school lunch program? Newt only wanted to bend down the ascending spending curve. The differences with the Clinton White House were so small that you might as well say Newt wanted to take the jelly out of the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Clinton said leave it in. The idea was to crowd the GOP into taking positions further and further to the right, all the while getting them to think they were winning. Then the Democratic leadership springs the trap, holding a press conference to announce they would fight to the last man to keep the jelly for the kids. (Or the Preparation-H in the Medicaid program.) When it came to national security, the Republicans wanted to drop Big bombs on Iraq. Clinton said, Little bombs would do.

Look at the front pages of the NYTimes and WSJournal yesterday. You will find Al Gore is learning how to triangulate. In the Journal, we find the lead item in the “World-Wide” news column: “CLINTON IS RAISING PENTAGON SPENDING AS BUSH ATTACKS MILITARY PREPAREDNESS.” The message: You want to spend a zillion, I will spend a zillion minus a jillion, and spend the difference on the poor and needy and prescription drugs. In the NYTimes, we find the lead story: “U.N. READIES TEAM TO CHECK WEAPONS HELD BY THE IRAQIS; Confrontation is Likely.” Another sucker play, to draw George W. Bush into complaining that Gore is a pussyfooter who should get rid of Saddam Hussein once and for all.

We are all noting how quickly Al Gore erased George W’s double-digit lead in the polls, even though he gave a “robotic” acceptance speech at the Democratic convention. Even his fans acknowledged there was no poetry in the speech. It was a “laundry list.” But it triangulated. The Republicans are going to set aside the Social Security surplus. Al Gore is going to put it in a “lock box,” so the Republicans cannot squander it on tax cuts for the rich. Mind you, he is in favor of eliminating the marriage-tax penalty AND in favor of cutting the insidious death tax, which robs little farmers of their inheritances. George W. wants to eliminate the marriage-tax penalty for the Rich. Al Gore wants to eliminate it for the Poor. And the same goes for the Gift&Estate tax. George W. wants to have his picture taken with little black and Hispanic kids. Al Gore actually puts a Jew on the ticket!!! How much more inclusive can you get, for goodness sakes?

We will now sit back and observe how the Bush team plays this game as it gets serious. My confidence that this will not be a replay of 1996 is based on Dick Cheney being picked as Bush’s running mate and right-hand man. What does Bush have to do? Very simply, he moves right to a point and then wheels around to outflank Gore on the left. Gore is dropping bombs on Iraq and Bush is wondering why there has been so little diplomatic initiative, asking Colin Powell to explain why bombs are unnecessary. Gore is challenging the Bush tax cuts as being a little too big. Bush makes them bigger by saying he wants to eliminate the capital-gains tax and says he is thinking of Steve Forbes as Treasury Secretary. This is how you beat triangulation.