MODERATE POLITICS: STILL ALIVE? Just this week, "Newsweek" rolled out a special issue: "Wanted : A New Truman . Does Anybody in the Field Have What It Takes?" That is a question that permeates the public's reaction to what I described, several blogs ago, as the "Endless Campaign". Through the millions of dollars flowing to political handlers / advertising media/ endless television "sound bites", there is almost no moderation.

Today's "media hype" environment might not permit a Franklin Roosevelt to advance to election in the biggest national crisis since the Civil War. Who would have ever thought that FDR, once described as an "amiable country squire with no noticeable qualifications" would give real leadership through a Depression and World War II? Who ever thought that Truman, once described as a Missouri "political hack" would have sheparded the U.S. through postwar era economic aid to a Nazi-destroyed Europe and established a framework of peaceful strength to manage the beginnings of a Cold War against a Stalin dictatorship? -- both done on a bipartisan basis, once tough disagreements were hammered out to reasonable compromise.

The environment during the FDR and Truman issues was one of a more moderate politics.

Today, moderate politics is almost an endangered species; only occasionally , does light shine through the heat. Two examples, nationally:

1) The special Newsweek edition includes an article about a longtime friend , Susan Eisenhower , granddaughter of the General/ President . In that article --"Generational Tensions" --another person speaks out: Ted Roosevelt IV whom, with Susan, I worked to secure bipartisan Congressional support to protect Alaska's National Wildlife Refuge from unlimited oil drilling. That sensible conservation legislation passed, on a bipartisan basis -- with half a dozen "moderate" U.S. Senators making a narrow margin possible.

Both Susan and Ted carry an unspoken message: her ancestors Dwight and Milton Eisenhower, once President of Johns Hopkins, would be concerned about our today's lack of balance in political action; his ancestor ,Theodore Roosevelt , would wisely echo his famous advice : "Speak softly and carry a big stick."

What did these two famous last names say ? Susan , a president of an international consulting firm, hopes to see a moderate balance survive in a party being pushed rightward. In effect, she is "hanging in there" Ted IV, investment banker and conservation leader, sees the same challenge, expressing concern that the U.S. government pragmatism and reality: "I come from a tradition of pragmatic Republicanism. This Administration has taken the idea of aggessively exporting democracy a la Woodrow Wilson, and gone in a direction even Wilson wouldn't have considered."

2) This same week, a refreshing joint interview of Senators Olympia Snow (R. Maine) and Evan Bayh (D. Indiana ) both called for a balance and a RESULT: to bring the Iraq War to a close and protect/ support our troops in that process. They both indicate that they are in a minority, as two Senators who prefer to work things out and reach a middle ground.

Finally, here in Baltimore -- last week : the words of one of America's better news commentators: Tim Russert. In a speech before a large gathering in support of the House of Ruth, Russert spoke of the contrast between the era of his father (the hero of Russert's recent book "Big Russ and Me") and today as he described it: " Now the U.S. is a divided nation. It is essential that political leaders who disagree , can and must do so, with civility."

In essence, Tim Russert was asking questions of history : example -- where have the days gone that had disagreements between President Ronald Reagon and Speaker Tip O'Neill who could also work privately together to reach some limits on government spending".

Also he pointed to today's lack of reaching a middle ground: example -- the utter failure of politicians in Congress and the White House to DO, not just talk about emerging decrease of funds for social security protection for the retirement years of our children and grandchildren. What Russert means is that politicans of this generation cannot "leave a legacy of old vs. young."

To leave no stone unturned: Maryland! Our state government,dominated by a single party, is moving in a direction of "little compromise" as it heads towards a high tax/ reducing opportunity environment for small business and mid-level income earners. Maryland may be accelerating its pace towards lack of moderate politics, with State politicians carrying the banner "my way , or the highway."

For further commentaries on Maryland: Stay Tuned for "blogentaries" to come !

Labels: Maryland, politics, Roosevelt, Truman

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