Democrats Prepare to ‘Wedge’ War

The chief strategist for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gray Davis opines that this year’s governor’s race will “focus on a handful of issues that matter to people.” It will be unlike previous campaigns, he says, that “got sidetracked onto issues of gender, ethnicity and sideshows.”

For those wanting to cut through that encrypted goo, Davis’ strategist is referring to Propositions 187 and 209 on the 1994 and 1996 ballots. He is claiming, by these assertions, that Republicans won’t be using “wedge” issues in the 1998 campaign.

Wedge issues are those defined by Democrats, like-minded pundits and uncritical journalists as those that divide people and stimulate highly charged emotional responses affecting voting behavior. Moreover, as noted above, they are not “real” issues; they are “sidetracks” and “sideshows.” Conveniently, they are also issues that have an ugly taint and are never raised by Democrats--only Republicans.

But don’t blame the Democrats for grasping political advantage. Republicans routinely let them and their liberal camp followers get away with this smarmy hypocrisy.

What hypocrisy?

Well, in my adult lifetime, the use of so-called wedge issues has been a high art form of Democratic Party candidates and spokesmen. We didn’t think to call them wedge issues in years past, but a rose by any other name . . .

Thus, when I sported a Goldwater bumper sticker on my ’60 VW, I was berated for supporting a racist who would incinerate the world with nukes. Goldwaterphobes believed this to be thoughtful discourse and rational debate.

And what I saw beginning in the ‘60s has continued through the years into the ‘90s. Jimmy Carter rode into the White House on the wave of the “Misery Index” and President Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon. The simple mission of Carter and his operatives was to foment anger and contempt toward a decent man upon whom the presidency was thrust. It worked.

Then, going down the tubes in 1980, a lame and desperate Carter tried to convince America that Ronald Reagan was a divisive extremist and--unwisely for him, it turned out--wanted the nation to believe that Mr. Reagan would destroy Social Security. In his worst moments, Carter never thought this standby Democratic wedge would bury him in derision as Reagan riposted: “There you go again.”

But who could blame Carter? After all, Social Security and Medicare have been ready Democratic Party wedges for years--frightening the elderly of America into thinking their last financial and health lifelines are in constant danger of being extinguished by senior-hating Republicans.

The most recent example was manifest in the last presidential election when Bill Clinton personally supervised television commercials twinning Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich with the charge--wholly false--that they had cut Medicare benefits.

While such rancid attacks give demagoguery a bad name, they have been a staple of Democratic Party message meisters--a convenient method of transporting their mud in campaign after campaign.

So when California Democrats prate of “issues that matter to people,” it’s natural to inquire what they have in mind. Davis recently complied by outlining to political reporters his belief that the issues that distinguish him from the Republican nominee, Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren, are abortion, assault weapons, offshore drilling and tobacco.

Who could possibly be surprised at the mosaic that emerges from these bits and pieces? Job creation, taxes, gangs, education, water policy and public safety all appear to be second-tier priorities to the issues that will be embraced by Republican adversaries this year.

The abortion wedge will be used by Democrats to paint opponents as anti-woman. And we’ve already heard a Davis spokesman blast the attorney general on two of these other issues, charging that when it comes to assault weapons and tobacco, Lungren “places people in harm’s way.” Very subtle.

Keep your political scorecards handy because the other Democratic wedges will be trotted out sequentially. Clinton has already raised the specter that Republicans won’t join him in saving Social Security or reforming managed care. His acolytes, mainly Gore, will claim that Republican office seekers will destroy the environment and reward polluters.

And don’t forget Propositions 187 and 209. Democrats revel in their mock anger about these issues while privately salivating over a hoped-for electoral advantage in minority communities.

Come the day when Republicans successfully counterattack, one suspects the term wedge will be retired from the political lexicon and returned to the golf course where it belongs.

Kenneth L. Khachigian is a veteran political strategist and former White House speech writer who practices law in Orange County. His column appears here every other week.