“Carville delivers a deadly dose of populism in We’re Right, They’re Wrong” – a book review by Stephen Waters.
The most important book of the 1996 Presidential election will not be Bloodsport, Primary Colors or any other book exposing scandals or inner White House politics. Neither will it be Woodward’s The Choice, the biographies of the candidates or the feel-good pieces from their wives. Newt Gingrich’s To Renew America and Rush Limbaugh’s See, I Told You So dropped off the bestsellers list months ago, but staying around the top of the list and turning the disunited Democratic party from gloomy to goofy is the irresistible new book from James Carville, We’re Right, They’re Wrong (New York: Random House, 1996). Let America, beware, however, this cajun is serving up some deadly gumbo.
In a country where the political pendulum seems to accelerate with every recent election cycle, James Carville is on the cutting edge of the Democrat revival (and no Republican, including his wife, Mary Matalin, seems poised to provide equal time). He calls his piece “A Handbook for Spirited Progressives” and he has masterfully rolled into 185 pages a persuasive spin for recent Democrat setbacks, stinging satire, grassroots rapid-response material, as well as key talking points and practical suggestions for party involvement.
Instead of licking his wounds after the crushing blow of the 1994 Republican revolution, Carville has licked his finger and stuck it into the air to read the political winds. Sensing simultaneously a conservative revival as well as a public reluctance to make deep cuts in government, Carville has responded with a new and improved Democrat platform that trades formerly liberal ground for conservative rhetoric while preaching the legitimacy of government. Untrue to the 1992 campaign as well as his very nature, Carville calls for no additional government programs or large-scale federal fix-its: in a fight to defend progressives, he is uncharacteristically status quo.
The brilliance of the book is its populist flavor. Carville, the advisor to the President, founder of the consulting firm Carville & Begala, and handsomely paid speaker, leaves the war room and the Washington beltway and spotlights his persona as “The Ragin’ Cajun.” While Bob Dole marches in the armor of his blue suit, and Republican Representatives talk CBO and OMB numbers, Carville skips the insider trappings and asks his reader to respond to a debate with Republicans in the comfort of a backyard barbecue (complete with a mouth-watering recipe for uppity potato salad).
His setting is genius, but more importantly, his prose sings. Carville willingly becomes the court jester for Bill Clinton. He throws the zingers at the President’s opponents and we can expect he will take the barbs for any unpleasant consequences. He may be the jester, but he’s not joking around. He holds no punches and he deletes no expletives in his fight to negate the Republican revival spawned by Bill Clinton’s miserable first two years.
Carville should be commended for calling a spade a spade and calling his party’s hand for its procrastination in addressing the importance of two-parent families and discipline in education. As a marine with a strong family background, Carville drives home a message that has not until now been at home in the Democrat party.
The conservative gumbo served up by the cajun is almost appealing until you realize that it is poisoned. Carville gets on the populist bandwagon to demonize fiscal conservatives as elites who control the lives of typical Americans. His populism is poison, however, because his real thesis is that America should not be controlled by capitalist elites but by government elites.
Furthermore, if the new Democrats had no other intentions than to govern by the platform Carville details, maintsream America wouldn’t lose tremendous sleep. He outlines all the popular positions on education, welfare, the economy, and strong families. Indeed, to many, Carville’s book will be seen as a foreshadowing of the 1996 Democrat platform. There is, however, a glaring difference between the two works. As a Catholic, Carville has discarded two substantial wedge issues of the left: gay rights and abortion. While the liberal press is dominated by stories of Republican fractures over conservative positions on abortion and homosexuality, it is the Democrat party that has seen mass defections as a result of their heavy-handed abortion and gay advocates. This is true especially in the formerly Democrat-controlled south, where party-switchers consistently say that they didn’t leave the party; the party left them. Carville’s book, for that matter, is a grossly incomplete reflection of the inevitable “conservative-coated liberal manifesto” of the 1996 Democrat platform.
Carville has sent the warning, Democrats are going to be walking around with his populist manual at your summer barbecues. If that’s the case, then I’m sure Lee Atwater would posthumously recommend that all conservative activists read it to know what they are up against — of course, he would suggest checking it out from the library or borrowing it to keep from passing royalties along to the Cajun.
As a final comment, there is nothing especially partisan about Carville’s list of “Ten Things You Can Do”. Citizens of all political backgrounds should follow his list because these activities are the key ingredients to meaningful citizenship in American society:
- Run for office.
- Volunteer on a campaign
- Talk to your children about public affairs and politics.
- Write letters to the editor.
- Go to town hall meetings.
- Attend school board meetings.
- Write to members of Congress.
- Write a check to support a candidate you admire.
- Get involved in discussion on the Internet.
- Be just as willing to compliment as you are to criticize. (pp. 136-137)
