I can vividly recall Election Night 2004, watching the states’ totals trickle in at an election party in my high school cafeteria. That big balloon of Democratic hope –overfilled with the hot air of those useless exit polls — was sadly, slowly contracting. The conclusion, as if we were gradually stepping away from an electoral Monet painting, was becoming clearer by the moment, the impossible was materializing: That buffoon, that comical shell of a president was really going to serve a second term. And as so many of us raised a collective, "why?" and "how?" — an answer in the form of summertime footwear rung in my head, that silly political double "F-word" that did so much to undermine John Kerry’s bid: flip-flop.
Yes, it was the flip-flop that gave the GOP control of the executive branch for another four years. But if poetic justice exists in elections, it should also squash the presidential hopes of whomever the party fields for 2008. Democrats can eagerly anticipate the schadenfreude to come as the four Republican frontrunners, all formerly "mavericks" to some degree, weasel away from centrist positions to kowtow to their party’s most conservative wing and, in the process, set themselves up for branding with that toxic moniker. Let’s flip through them, flopping fourth to first from the most current national polls.
At one point, Mitt Romney might have been an attractive candidate for members of both major parties. An extremely successful businessman and popular chief executive of one of the bluest states, Mr. Romney’s most noteworthy gubernatorial act was implementing a form of universal healthcare coverage. However, in a recent cover story, Newsweek lamented his "all-too-convenient conservative-conversion narrative: The pro-choice, pro-gay rights governor of Massachusetts was miraculously transformed into a crusader for unborn life and the sanctity of marriage, just in time to run for the Republican nomination for president." And Mr. Romney has refrained from putting forward his popular Massachusetts healthcare plan as a national model to avoid damning cries of "big government." At last, Newsweek noted, "the "’flip-flopper’ charge" is already upon him.
Isn’t it strange to think that John McCain received serious consideration to be John Kerry’s running mate in ’04? No Democratic Batman would be asking him to be their Robin today, as he has recently flipped to "repealist" on Roe v. Wade. He then flopped into religious zealotry, the proponents of which he once condemned, when he suggested that only Christians are fit for the presidency.
He no longer supports his trademark campaign-finance reform package, and the man who long ago said that "we cannot even contemplate … trading American blood for Iraqi blood" is now seeking a new Hundred Years’ War in Iraq via his "No Surrender" tour. In 2007, McCain is about as much a maverick as is Tim Duncan.
Fred Thompson recently limped into the race, portraying himself as the candidate most amenable to the Dixieland "God ‘n’ guns" demographic. And though he has been thoroughly conservative on most issues in his career, his political 180 on first-trimester abortion rights since his Senate days has prevented him from assuming the "mantle of Ronald Reagan" he so desperately wishes to wear.
Fittingly, the strongest accusations of flip-floppery should be reserved for the front-runner, Rudy Giuliani. Today indistinguishable from Big Brother in his terror fear-mongering — "they want to kill you" is a favorite phrase — a more level-headed Rudy in 1999 urged people "not to let the psychology of fear infect the way they act. Otherwise we have let the terrorists win." This man who, according to the Washington Post, felt terrorism should be prosecuted as a crime even in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, now criticizes the Clinton administration for doing exactly that, and wildly sounds the drum for an intensified War on Terror.
Better yet, though famous as a gun control advocate during his mayoral tenure, Rudy recently told a group of NRA members that the Second Amendment is "just as important" as any other in the Bill of Rights. And, to put the finishing touch on his transformation to arch-conservative curmudgeon, the New York Sun reports that Rudy recently came out in opposition to the civil unions he was on record as supporting as recently as 2004.
Call him a hero if you wish, though I still don’t understand how his urging calm and walking around downtown on that fateful day differ from what any of us would have done, given a good speechwriter and common sense. But you could also justly call Rudy Giuliani many other things; a mayor with a sub-40 percent pre-Sept. 11 approval rating; a political chameleon of the worst kind; a tragedy profiteer; even, dare I say, a flip-flopper.
And if he’s the nominee, which appears more likely every day, Democrats would be crazy not to pounce on it. As the above demonstrates, though, they can’t go wrong with the flip-flop approach to undercut any of the Republican frontrunners. In fact, the flip-flop signs can be made now, flip-flop speeches can prepared, MoveOn.org can even reserve a full-page flip-flop ad in the New York Times; there only needs to be space left to fill in a name of the Republican candidate. Here’s hoping the GOP enjoys the taste of its own medicine, because in 2008, flip-flop, gets, well, flip-flopped.
John Sprangers ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in international studies and political science.
