Is Clark a Republican? I am going to follow the position staked out by a great American president and insist that "is" is present tense. And the answer is clearly no. Now, "was" Clark a Republican? Is he maybe a "Johnny-come-lately"? That last charge strikes me as fair, and it bothers me, although I personally don't find it fatal.
I mean, do you really believe that Clark is (present tense) a "Republican" who voted for Clinton and Gore, is absolutely pro-choice, believes in taxing millionaires to provide middle-class tax relief, wants to close corporate tax loopholes, has a health-care plan very similar to Howard Dean's, wants free universival pre-school, has convinced Michael Moore to campaign for him this Saturday in NH and believes in a robust, multilateralist foreign policy (says Iraq was a "sideshow", says NATO should be in charge of hunting Bin Laden, says Iraq should be immediately turned over to UN administration, testified before Congress in Sept. 2002 against Bush's plans for Iraq, etc.)
Well, if that is what makes you a Republican then I guess I am not so worried about the Republican take-over of our national government -- universal health care, here we come!
But seriously, I think the real charge, which could be fairly made, is that Clark only recently figured out he is a Democrat. And this raises an issue of the sincerity and future longevity of his beliefs. Clark's own defense, that he never really thought about domestic policy until recently, brings up similar problems.
One way that Clark can fight this problem is by issuing very detailed plans and showing his mastery over the issues. For example, the middle-class tax plan is very well worked out and is not just a "me-too, I'll tell you about it later" sort of thing. His position on abortion, however, is so stark and unadorned that I wonder if he has really given it much thought, or if he just knows that he has to be pro-choice.
Of course, sometimes converts really are the hardest core.
And by the way, Dean governed Vermont as a centrist DLC Democrat -- he only recently figured out that he represents the "Democrat wing of the Democratic party." (I am not doubting his sincerity on that, by the way.) At least Gephart has been a old-fashioned pro-union, pro-defense, anti-free-trade Democratic for a long, long time. Too bad for me, that is not my politics.
I am sure that Kerry has figured out who he is, too, but some Kerry supporter will have to explain it to me.
Anyway, the "Clark is a Republican" charge strikes me as ridiculous and I think less of those who use it. The issue of what we should make of the fact that Clark is a Johnny-come-lately Democrat seems to be more interesting and nuanced.
Do we accept the convert with open arms, or make him pay his dues before he gets our nod?