Can Mark Warner Save the Democrats from Themselves?

There is something here in the air of New England which was not here when I was a child. It seems to have come into the world like a spirit born of its own accord about the time when the great elms died all throughout the region’s countryside. It is a dissident spirit which pervades the university, politics, the press and the public culture up here and it has mushroomed in my lifetime.

Nathanial Hawthorne says it is a life force from the spirit world which has always been here. It is a witch spirit, he says, from “those strange old times, when fantastic dreams and madmen’s reveries were realized among the actual circumstances of life.” That would be the Puritans he was referring to, those high-minded early New England settlers who were big on concepts and religious fanaticism, but had some difficulty farming enough food to keep themselves from starving to death. I think it has come back. Maybe it is that witch spirit which prevents Boston area politicians from being able to properly route traffic, coordinate transportation or generally help you find your way around the region.

This spirit seeped throughout my generation and pervaded New England, like the ooze of industrial sludge which covered the ponds in towns like Fall River, where I grew up. It was a kind of half-knowledge and half-hostility which saw itself exclusively in opposition to power. That was the ticket. At every turn it identified with the discontent rather than with the civilization. It came to personify the discontent. It began to blossom in the early 1970s when I was starting college here in New England.

New England’s witch spirit rose again last week. But Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, a New Englander like myself, refused to submit. He refused to call the new spruce in Boston a “Holiday Tree.” It is a Christmas Tree, said the mayor.

In Boston, many residents voiced their dismay over the state’s official Web site that promoted a December 1 ceremony for "Boston's Official Holiday Tree Lighting.” But Menino said he would keep calling the Nova Scotia spruce a "Christmas tree" regardless of what it said on the city's official Web site.

"I grew up with a Christmas tree, I'm going to stay with a Christmas tree," Menino told reporters on Thursday.

This is not really about Christmas trees. It is about refusing to be territorialized by the language and the pseudo-anthropology of Revenge Demons.

Christmas is prime time for Revenge Demons, as the Christmas Tree and its sacred celebration descends to the spirit of the English-speaking people like no other and goes to the core of our spirit. The eccentric Puritans who settled up here in the northern hills tried to ban Christmas and did so successfully for awhile. They are the natural ancestors of the “Holiday Tree” crowd.

Until now, New England politicians have been easy prey for Revenge Demons. But Thomas Menino has an inherently happy nature and won’t be taken in by the Dark Side. So far as I know, the only other prominent politician this side of the Mason-Dixon Line who calls it a Christmas Tree is Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Most often, this nature, which we in the old school used to call “poor spirited,” seems to hail from Democrats, particularly those from the Northeast. It is this spirit which presents itself as Victim. It is this spirit which sees itself as self-righteous, indignant and high-minded. It is this spirit which calls itself victorious, even in defeat. And it is this spirit which will destroy the Democratic Party or force it to self-destruct, much like the effete Whig Party, captive of its own witch spirit and lost in the reverie of its own righteous indignation, self destructed in the 1830s.

I think Democratic politicians today should be sent to court-ordered therapy, much as first offenders are sent to Anger Management therapy for minor infractions. The therapists would all wear t-shirts which said, “It’s a management thing. You wouldn’t understand.”

I’d force them to watch some of the recent C-Span shows, like the one featuring Newt Gingrich on “Road to the White House” this past week. It shows Gingrich talking about business management. It shows Gingrich talking about attending class recently with W. Edwards Deming, the father of quality control strategies of manufacturing, which allowed America to make good cars again in the 1980s and 1990s. It has Gingrich quoting Peter Drucker. It has Gingrich talking about failure of the Katrina rescue on three levels, federal, state and local and writing Failure on the board three times. It has Gingrich talking about these issues as management failures. It has Gingrich talking enthusiastically about how to face the challenges in economy coming from India and China today and outlining in a quiet voice and in a measured manner how we can address these challenges and grow by these challenges.

Gingrich might be running for President pretty soon. This is how he will present himself to the public.

The first thing Democrats should be asking themselves today is how are we regarded as managers? Wes Clark, Russ Feingold both speak of management and have both exhibited professionalism and expertise in management. But by far and away Virginia governor Mark Warner leads the pack. Recently, he was voted by Time to be the Governor of one of the five best-managed states in the country. And recently, The Wall Street Journal has written that there is a strong argument to be made that he would be the party's strongest conceivable general election candidate.

He is a breath of fresh air in a party that is suffocating itself to death.

Warner said recently to the graduating class at Virginia Military Institute, “I come from the business world, where you have to look beyond the next horizon to survive. If you don’t have annual goals, two year goals, and five year goals -- you’re out of business before too long.”

When was the last time the Democrats had a candidate from the business world? When was the last time a Democrat had a five-year plan?

Mark, Not George

Mark, not George:
Mark Warner in New Hampshire

I don’t know if you all get it – maybe it is a regional thing. We have up here on occasion recently, visits of those considering a run for the Presidency in 2008. It is aired on C-Span as “Road to the White House.” Got that rural, church basement New Hampshire cache – not unlike an Iowa or Nebraska church basement, but way unlike something in New York or Washington, D.C. Mark Warner, the governor of Virginia, was up here last week for a visit and we were surprised by his gracious and naturally friendly temperament, more Indiana than Virginia, he seemed to us. He made the comment that a few years back he ran for the U.S. Senate against Senator John Warner and there was a bumper sticker which said, “Mark, not John” which some thought was a biblical reference.

I happened to be in the region at that time and Virginia was a grim place in parts of the hinterland. Out of somewhere in the mountains thereabouts came an indigenous feeling that the world was coming to an end and if you turned on mountain radio you’d get the greatest and most sincere blue grass and folk preachers, but taking a dark turn somewhere around 1992 - a feeling that after all this time, Jesus comin.’ Armageddon pervaded the country air. At the time Senator John McCain, a Virginian whose ancestors served with George Washington was called a coward by the burgeoning religious right, which was even then looking for a fight.

Warner represents the Virginia which Washington, Jefferson and John McCain would be proud of. First impressions of Gov. Warner were much like those when I heard him last Spring at the Governor’s conference on education – he is an American wide-awake guy who sees everything like most of the awake see it (as it it right in front of our face) – hey, India is putting out twice as many engineering students as we are – how are we supposed to be competitive? Why don’t we start in the high schools and get them oriented there?

Makes perfect sense. But as the current administration looks to the Middle East for all things and with the wiggiest of ideas to “jump start a new American century” and pretend China and India are not in existence, Warner sees the real issues at home and across the Pacific. Its about work and its about management and he proudly calls Virginia “the best managed state in America.” Perhaps because the rest of politics is either negative or in denial, the contrast Warner presents is so positively charged.

I believe Warner could well change the tempo of American politics, much as Ronald Reagan changed the prevailing wind in the 1980s. His responsible voice in a Democratic primary – which last time almost resembled a political edition of American Idol – will entirely change the tone. He doesn’t seem to have a negative bone in his body – refreshing when I get daily emails from several other Democratic contenders consistently attacking the Republicans – they know who they are not, but they don’t know who they are.

Mark Warner knows who he is and you get that right away. Herewith is the man from the heartland; Indiana born – slightly disheveled like Frank Capra’s Mr. Deeds and not unlike John Roberts – very much like John Roberts in a sense. There is a sense of natural competence and optimism about him as there is with John Roberts which is neither partisan nor ideological, neither North nor South but thoroughly American, and an assurance that the job ahead will naturally open up to him and he will meet it as he was born to it. Like John Roberts, that his is a whole person, competent, formidable, one of us – as Bono said about Johnny Cash, “extraordinary and ordinary” – this it the free American condition awakening in the heartland, awakening in the world and sayin’ hey.

Up here in New Hampshire where surly pervades the mountains, the Virginia governor brought charm and humor – the first Democrat perhaps with an organic sense of humor since JFK. “ . . . if they can build it in Bangalore, they can build it in Martinsville.” “. . . the Democrat Party has to be something more than against the Administration."

Warner’s could be the voice for new movement, for a new Awakening in the Democratic Party and in the country. A true family man, he loves the political crowd, but seems itching to get home to his wife and three daughters. The curse of the new Democrats is a Starbuck’s class culture, a phony “upper working class” quality which alienates them from ordinary folks – Patsy Cline, Hank Williams folk like most Virginians. There are none of these pretentions about Mark Warner. Harvard Law School, but he makes no distinction – he sponsors gun legislation in a state with an honest tradition of hunting and promotes his agenda at the NASCAR track. He will play well up here in New Hampshire.

More to come!

Bernie Quigley is a prize-winning magazine writer and has worked more than 30 years as a book and magazine editor, political commentator and book, movie, music and art reviewer. He lives in the White Mountains with his wife and four children.

Warner Among TIME's Best Governors List

Mark Warner has been named one of the top five Governor's in the nation by TIME Magazine.

"With the Democratic Party looking for a fresh face and a new direction, there is more than a little interest in what Warner plans to do when he leaves office in January," the article says.

Warner also appeared on CBS's "Face the Nation" last Sunday. During his appearance on the news program, The Boston Globe writes that Warner said he hasn't made a decision yet to run for President in 2008 but Warner does want "to be part of the Democratic Party's efforts to appeal to 'sensible center' voters."

And finally, C-Span's Brian Lamb conducted a Q&A with Warner recently, in which he discussed what it will take for him to decide to run for President. The full transcript can be found here.

News Round-up: Kaine...and Warner... Win Big

In a season of negative campaigning, some good has come of this past election.

As we all know, Tim Kaine will be Virginia's next Governor, soundly deafeating Republican Jerry Kilgore yesterday evening. According to The Washington Post's post-election report, the outcome of the Kaine-Kilgore match in part "demonstrated the appeal of Gov. Mark R. Warner (D), for whom this could become the first stop of a presidential campaign."

The Post further attributed the win to Warner's "soaring approval rating that was steady across party lines and an electorate that was happy with the way the state was being governed and upset with the national trends."

The Richmond Times-Dispatch seconded that, describing the Kaine triumph as "a big win for Warner, who captured the Executive Mansion four years ago from Republicans and whose popularity is credited with helping steer Kaine to victory."

ABC News declared that Kaine's triumph "was likely to boost Warner's profile as a possible 2008 presidential candidate," which The USA Today said added "cachet" to Warner's expected bid.

And rounding up the news coverage of the election, The New York Times reports that Warner "is trying to cast himself as a pragmatic, centrist Democrat who can win in the South, and Mr. Kaine's victory clearly burnished that image."

Warner's stature is growing steadily on the national scene, just as he governed Virginia over the past four years with steady stewardship in a historically conservative state. Now it's time for the rest of the U.S. to discover what Virginians already know about Warner.