In the Pantheon of Political Sins, Davis’ Don’t Stand Out

Like it or not, exaggerating, shading, tweaking, reinventing, underplaying, manipulating, hiding, and distorting the truth are essential, time-honored strategies in the grand tradition of American politics.

There’s the campaign promise, the rosy outlook, the gloomy forecast, and countless other popular fibs and whoppers. But in the end, it’s never really “the beginning of a new era� or “the end of business as usual,� and read my lips as I tell you to look for an offshore shelter the minute a politician guarantees “no new taxes.�

So in the great pantheon of political lies, do Gov. Gray Davis’ campaign-season distortions about the budget deficit warrant a public beheading?

Of course not, but I have to admit that I’ve lost all perspective.

The nation flew into hysterical impeachment mode over a president whose nose grew when he said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.� But no matter how many Americans come home from Iraq in boxes, we’re not going to disturb our summer vacation and get worked up about a commander in chief whose justifications for war were trumped up.

If that makes sense to you, you’re definitely listening to too much talk radio.

Davis’ head is on the block for many reasons, but to the extent that dishonesty plays a role, why exactly do his sins rise above those of fellow politicians?

They don’t. His problem isn’t fibbing, but being a fibber with no redeeming qualities. We might be willing to give him a pass if he demonstrated a passion for anything other than fund-raising.

Davis also has the misfortune of living in a state where people sign petitions every time they go to the supermarket, and millionaires run for public office on days they don’t play golf.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m no apologist for Gray Davis. Leadership isn’t his strength, core beliefs don’t provide much of a fall-back cushion, and he doesn’t give you much to latch onto. Democratic strategist Darry Sragow has another way to describe Davis’ likability deficit:

“He has no political body fat.�

Unlike, say, former President Clinton. Although Slick had trouble with the truth, he could charm the shirt right off your back, as he so ably demonstrated. In Davis’ case, lying about a woman in a blue dress might have helped his career, because a sex scandal would at least make him look human.

President Bush has body fat too, along with a clear sense of who he is, which is why he gets away with gaffes and much worse. When I traveled with his campaign three years ago, he had a twinkle in his eye that Al Gore couldn’t invent on his best day, and people stood in long lines to shake Bush’s hand.

The only twinkle Davis has ever had in his eye was a dollar sign, and the only people who ever waited in line to shake his hand were campaign donors shopping for favors. If he had a few ounces of that body fat Sragow talks about, he might have been able to deflect some of the criticism of his handling of the energy crisis and the budget crisis.

Sure, he botched both. But he had help from Democrats and Republicans in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.; a catastrophic economic collapse; and the vile energy industry barons who took advantage of deregulation by robbing consumers blind.

Such complexities don’t tend to register with the average “let’s-toss-the-bums� voter who signs any petition you stick under his nose. That’s why we have term limits in California, and a rotating crop of inexperienced legislators who couldn’t manage a lemonade stand, let alone balance a multibillion-dollar budget.

We’ve also got a governor who’s an ace when it comes to attacking foes but has never been nearly as good at selling himself, which is exactly what he has to do at this late stage of his career.

You can blame California’s sun-dried democracy for a recall that’s quickly become a national spectacle, and you can blame Davis too. Either way, the man’s in trouble, and his problems run deeper than being called a liar by GOP poachers who want his job, says democratic strategist Gale Kaufman.

“I think voters are more frustrated by a lack of leadership, as opposed to saying, ‘He lied to me,’ � says Kaufman. “They really just don’t like this guy.�

Now Davis is promising to fight “like a Bengal tiger.�

Yeah, good timing, Gray. If you’d ever fought for anything other than your own survival, you wouldn’t be in this mess.

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Steve Lopez writes Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at [email protected]