Values: The Dems Take on the Republicans
The New York Times had a page-one newsbreaker over the July 4th weekend. John Kerry, it seems, has been talking about “values.” The presumptive Democratic nominee had told an audience at a conference of Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, “In the end it’s about values.” What’s more, the paper reported, Kerry had days before that “used the V-word no fewer than eight times” in a speech to Hispanic leaders.
Times correspondent Jodi Wilgoren was doing what political journalists love to do: pronouncing the discovery of a strategic shift. Kerry, she noted, was “increasingly adopting a traditionally Republican refrain to give his campaign–and himself–grounding and context in broad moral terms.” Her story had an impact–at least at Bush HQ. The day this article appeared, Vice President Dick Cheney felt compelled to declare that Kerry was “out of the mainstream and out of touch with the conservative values of the heartland.” But while it is true that GOPers have ceaselessly tried to wrap themselves in God and the flag–how many flag factories did Bush the Elder visit during the 1988 campaign?–the formulation deployed by Wilgoren buys into biased assumptions about values and the political parties.
Democrats have long talked about values. What were Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 campaigns about? (And don’t say, “just himself.") He spoke eloquently about the plight of the underclass and urged Americans to recognize the hard work and the needs of those who change the bedpans at hospitals, who tend to the children of working parents, who work their fingers to the bone in chicken processing warehouses. Was that not about values? The late Sen. Paul Wellstone, an impassioned progressive, wrote on the first page of The Conscience of a Liberal, “To me the most important goal is to live a life consistent with the values I hold dear and to act on what I believe.” During the primary contest, Sen. John Edwards, the Democrats’ new number two, decried the existence of two Americas–one for the privileged, one for the rest. Howard Dean called for injecting honesty and integrity into government. Are those not values? And Kerry talked–endlessly–about duty and service to the country, as he emphasized his Vietnam War record. He has also called for more effective stewardship of the environment, increased wages to assist the working poor, and a massive program to provide health insurance to those who lack ready access to medical care. Is not all of this values-driven?
When Wilgoren notes Kerry has been yapping about “values,” what she means is….
Amen to the points delivered at the conclusion of your full article. One of the left’s biggest rhetorical errors, in my opinion, has been in allowing the GOP, led by the ultimately morally bankrupt religious right, to appropriate words like “values” and “character” and “integrity” and even “patriotism.” Let us pray the majority of Americans see through this subterfuge this time around (scratch that, make it “the majority of ELECTORS").
Comment by Karen in Texas — 7/7/2004 @ 8:48 am
This is the reason that issues like abortion have been the sole deciding factor for millions of Americans in elections. The Republicans play these for all they are worth and many Americans cannot see other issues that are also based on values and increadibly important such as environmental protection, and fair treatment for all Americans.
Comment by Jesse — 7/7/2004 @ 12:54 pm
It’s getting harder and harder to stay faithful to the Times – continue a long-term subscription. Wilgoren’s, Riser’s and others’ recent articles are so low in journalistic integrity that it’s hard to believe their reports aren’t being bowderlized by editors.
It’s certainly true that the right wing has managed to infect our languages with neo-speak – “values” and “character” are no longer honorable in their usage. But don’t forget, education and the challenging and questioning that it teaches us have become “elitist.” For heaven’s sake, let’s make sure the current forms of “values” and “character” exit the Oval Office in January 2005.
Comment by Bean in Texas — 7/7/2004 @ 3:49 pm
Between Tom Delay, the mysterious CIA leaker, and two of “President” Bush’s two biggest fundraisers, John Rowlnad and Kenneth Lay, I wonder what values the Republicans are talking about?
Comment by Kevin — 7/16/2004 @ 1:28 pm