Katherine Harris’s anticlimactic certification settles nothing. The Supreme Court is a different matter. If it sides with Bush after hearing arguments Friday, Gore should quit. There has to be some controlling legal authority. Until then, chalk one up for orchestrated street action, which intimidated the Miami-Dade canvassing board into its historic decision not to do what is done in close elections in most states: recount by hand. Those Gore-Lieberman signs amended by Bush supporters to read Sore-Loserman should have been a tip-off about the “spontaneity” of these protests. Amusing the first time they appeared and the second time, but the 28th time? This was AstroTurf, not grass roots; the ground has swollen in Florida courtesy of what were known in the 1960s as “outside agitators.” The only difference is that this year, the Yippies are mainstream party professionals from as far away as Alaska, having fun in the sun on a Bushman’s holiday.
Lars-Erik Nelson, a fine columnist who died suddenly last week, wrote in his final column that “exactly two years ago lawyers were trying to take a president away from us. Yesterday, they were trying to give us one.” Sometimes it’s the same lawyers. Theodore Olson, consigliere to Ken Starr and now to James Baker, is admitting that the demonstrators were choreographed by the GOP to pressure the local canvassing boards, the idea being to beat Jesse Jackson and Alan Dershowitz at their own game. Very clever. A bunch of screaming people (most smiling for the cameras) can disrupt and delay better than a series of motions filed in court.
And it worked. Instead of staying outside the county building, as required by law, the demonstrators stormed in, stoked by Cuban-American radio. The canvassing-board members can be excused for feeling intimidated; unlike the rest of us, they have to live with the explosive and abusive politics of Miami. It’s the Paris Commune meets “Miami Vice,” with Bush (or is it Elian Gonzalez?) as the dauphin.
But the politics of south Florida are not an accurate reflection of the nation, where most people could not have cared less about little Elian. This country is divided, all right–about as divided as New York City was this fall between the Yankees and the Mets. All the yelling is a little unnerving; we’re not used to caring as much about politics as about sports. But it’s not really a reflection of deep cleavages in American society. Think of this as a world championship between two uninspiring teams you would rather not watch. But then the game itself gets unexpectedly terrific, and you find yourself arguing passionately about every disputed call.
Henry Kissinger once said that academic politics are so bitter because the stakes are so small. Presidential stakes are never small: they involve life-and-death decisions. But the stakes are smaller than they were before Nov. 7. During the campaign, each man charted a different vision, with sharply different legislative agendas. Now the winner will hug the median strip with heavily compromised initiatives that are unlikely to change the country profoundly. Because the nation’s direction isn’t hanging on the outcome, it’s easier to accept our current state of democracy-by-litigation.
Most historic succession struggles have had no reliable courts. We’re luckier, with a dis-proof referee at hand. The Supremes will give instant legitimacy to the process and stop all of the dangerous talk from Baker and Bush (not to mention surrogates) of “usurpation” by the Florida State Supreme Court, a disrespect for the rule of law that stunned many lawyers last week. (Appealing is one thing; trashing the court set a new, disturbing standard.) Whether the Florida high court is overruled or affirmed, it will be done based on the law, not emotion.
How fitting that the Supremes are involved. Remember the line “This election is about the Supreme Court”? Only a few weeks ago it was common to hear people saying they preferred Gore (or Bush), so the other couldn’t change the court too much. Now the court will help settle the election, and thus determine the type of person likely to become a colleague. For instance, will Justices Scalia and Thomas keep their minds entirely on Laurence Tribe’s legal arguments for Gore–or wonder whether a President Gore would dare seat Tribe next to them? Unless you count its resistance to FDR’s 1937 court-packing scheme, this is the first time the Supreme Court has ruled not just on the future of the country, but on its own composition.
At the end of the 1968 campaign, Richard Nixon saw a sign at a rally saying BRING US TOGETHER. Whether genuine or arranged by H. R. Haldeman’s advance men, it became Nixon’s theme early on. But the country was too troubled then to come together. Now, for all the partisan yelping, it’s too fat and happy to come apart.
