Identity politics

Lieberman hit a home run with his Wednesday night speech, but will middle America grow weary of the "we have overcome" stories?

by Seth Gitell

LOS ANGELES - "Hadassah! Hadassah! Hadassah!" - the chant bellowed throughout the hall of the Staples Center. The setting for this spectacle was not a meeting of the Jewish women's service group of the same name but, of course, the Democratic Convention. And the chant was for Hadassah Lieberman, the wife of the vice presidential nominee.

That moment and those that followed showed the bold path the Democratic Party is crossing with its ticket of Al Gore and Joseph Lieberman. With the nomination, the party is not only tacking to the center but also repairing the bonds between two Democratic constituencies that have quarreled for years: African Americans and American Jews.

The initial flare-ups from the African-American community around Lieberman's nomination have all but stopped. There were inflammatory statements by the head of the Dallas's NAACP (NAACP President Kweisi Mfume promptly fired him) as well as Rev. Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, but they haven't resonated with the larger African-American community. Only five years ago - at the time of Farrakhan's Million Man March - tensions were much sharper. But Farrakhan is ill and doesn't carry the influence he had only a few years ago. It also helps that African-Americans have prospered under President Bill Clinton's economy, something that's quieted overt anti-Semitism within the ranks.

To quell lingering tensions, Lieberman did go before the convention's African-American caucus Tuesday to answer questions about his position on affirmative action, which has become something of a litmus test for the nominee. The caucus was satisfied with what he said and Lieberman repeated what he told the caucus before the convention Wednesday: "I continue to say, when it comes to affirmative action, mend it, don't end it." (William Rapfogel, an Orthodox Jew who got to know Lieberman as an official at the Orthodox Union in 1989, said last night that the Connecticut Senator held the same position on the social measure a decade ago.)

Just as important as playing to the left, Lieberman also had the task of playing to the center. In his message to "those of you at home who haven't made up your mind," Lieberman stressed those factors that helped Gore choose him: Gore and Lieberman's joint prayer, their standing as family men, their joint vote (two of just 10 Democrats who crossed party lines) in favor of the Gulf War.

Lieberman succeeded in reaching both audiences in his speech. But there is one danger for the Gore-Lieberman ticket in capturing the center. It's not closeted anti-Semitism, but rather the way the Democrats have chosen to focus on Lieberman's Jewishness. In order to win the support of African-Americans, Latinos, and others minorities, the Gore campaign has stressed Lieberman's role as a barrier breaker. They have also focused on Hadassah Lieberman's standing as the daughter of Holocaust survivors.

This constitutes one thing: identity politics. Middle America likes people for whom they are, but resists benefiting people because of their standing in a distinct racial, ethnic, religious, or sexual group. If the Democrats intensify this aspect of the Lieberman story, this could damage the ticket in the long run - especially if the Democratic interest groups start battling each other for a piece of the campaign.

But today these concerns are mere quibbles. On Wednesday Lieberman set a high standard for Gore to follow. Now the candidate himself must deliver.

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