by Thomas K. Lindsay
Adlai Stevenson, the failed Democratic presidential nominee in '52 and '56, was entertaining audience questions after a stump speech. A woman arose and congratulated the Illinoisan, "Sir, what you say is very thoughtful. I'm sure you'll get the vote of every thinking man and woman in America." Stevenson bowed deeply, answering, "Thank you madame. But that won't be enough. You see, I need a majority." Bob Dole knows the feeling. While history will place Bill Clinton's among the more vacuous of presidencies, most polls give the president a double-digit lead. To wake up the electorate, the customarily cautious Kansan must do something drastic. He must flout Beltway wisdom and pick a dynamic running mate. The rule is that a presidential nominee never should choose a Veep more charismatic than he. Yet picking a typically boring running mate would only accent the dullness for which the Dole team has already been flayed by the press and even some Republicans. But why Alan Keyes? Why the former U.N. ambassador, who has lost bids for the U.S. Senate as well as for this year's Republican presidential nomination? First, picking the eloquently pro-life Keyes would extinguish any possibility of a Buchanan uprising in San Diego, and it would do so in a way that least rankles pro-choice Republicans, for Keyes, unlike Buchanan, grounds his pro-life case not on his religion but on the universal moral principles of the Declaration of Independence--in the same manner that Lincoln appealed to the Declaration on the slavery question. No active politician today better understands and explains the moral foundations of America's principles than does Keyes. A Harvard Ph.D. who is proficient in five languages, Keyes was a student of the late Allan Bloom, whose best-selling _Closing of the American Mind_ launched the project to rescue American education. But Keyes is no mere egghead. He is the most gifted orator of our day. After hearing Keyes speak, liberal journalist Michael Lewis conceded, "I was struck dumb by the force of his eloquence. After the first twenty minutes I looked up at [_Washington Post_ reporter] Joel [Achenbach] and found that he was looking back at me with the same stunned expression. 'I don't know about you,'" said Achenbach, "'but I'm about to go work for the guy.'" That a majority of voters would likewise identify with this black man's message is proved by Colin Powell's popularity. During most of Powell-mania, voters knew little about his politics. But they knew him to be a successful black man of character. Part of the reason so many whites and blacks embraced Powell is that both races are heartsick over the growing racial polarization made conspicuous by incidents like the O.J. verdict. Most blacks and whites believe and want to prove that America can deliver on the promise of the Declaration of Independence. In Powell they have seen living testimony to the Declaration's dream of color-blind success won through hard work and character. Keyes's intellect and oratory far outstrip Powell's. True, he would hardly receive the media love feast Powell enjoys. But Keyes's conservatism, so offensive to the elite media, would endear him to many Reagan Democrats and blacks--polls show that most blacks are much closer to Keyes' moral vision than to Jesse Jackson's. And this makes Keyes a "wedge" candidate against not only the Democrats' core constituency but also against the media itself. The GOP must face facts: it faces not only a Democratic party enraged and energized by its losses in '94, but also an elite media equally enraged over those losses. So Mr. Dole must find a way to take the venom out of the network news's sound bites. Keyes would perform this task superbly--and the media know it. That's why, during this year's Republican primaries, the media kept Keyes' candidacy a secret. Their studied neglect turned vicious when Keyes was handcuffed by Atlanta police in order to prevent his taking part in a televised debate. To the extent that this atrocity wasn't ignored by the media, it was distorted. But the first black ever on a presidential ticket could not be ignored. And this is where Keyes works as a wedge against media bias. At first, of course, the press would attempt to gang-rape him, a la Dan Quayle. That's just fine for the Dole campaign, for then blacks and everyone else would get a first-hand glimpse of the condescension that too often lies just beneath liberal "compassion" for minorities. And we would see that, unlike Pat Buchanan, but like Ronald Reagan, the core of Keyes's message is optimistic. With unparalled persuasiveness, Keyes demonstrates that the restoration of economic and social health will follow our return to the marriage-based, two-parent family and our revival of the Declaration's color-blind principle of equal opportunity for all. Of course, the elite media may opt to hide behind black surrogates who label Keyes a Reagan Uncle Tom. Fine. Pity Jesse Jackson, or any other liberal, self-styled black leader, forced to debate Keyes. Pity more Al Gore. And pity the GOP if it fails to see in Keyes a historic opportunity. No politician today is more equipped to lay down a truly American vision for the 21st century, for none better makes the case for self-help over dependency, individual self-restraint over government-subsidized irresponsibility, and for the sanctity and sensibleness of the two-parent family. Keyes's intellect, eloquence, and energy would prove priceless in the coming debate over what type of people we are to become. Over this the '96 election will and should turn. We live in one of those rare times when politics can approach poetry: in 1863, Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, gave flesh to the Declaration's word. How fitting and proper today for a member of the group formerly emancipated to breathe new life into the Declaration's deathless dream. A risky strategy? Sure. But if Dole's days of double-digit discontent continue, Keyes could turn out to be the only man who can save the Kansan from eternal comparisons to Adlai Stevenson. ************************* Thomas K. Lindsay is an Adjunct Scholar at the Heritage Foundation and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Northern Iowa. [Editor's Note: This article was received from C-NEWS on 7/19/96. It is scheduled to appear in INSIGHT magazine next week (7/26/96). The author, Professor Thomas Lindsay, gives permission to forward and distribute it for the purpose of advancing Declaration principles.]