Tommy Ates OnlineŠ: Zell Miller Knows What Hes Doing

Needless to say, times have changed when a southern white politician can call other African-American politicos behavior a lynching," and have the hanky episode considered just a dust up in typical Washington politics. Its not that Millers comments were right in any fashion of the word acceptable," but the elder southern politician gets press for saying (and getting away with) what many whites wish they could say (with no apologizes to blacks) and linguistically avoid the race" card (because hes a Democrat).

Needless to say, times have changed when a southern white politician can call other African-American politicos behavior a lynching," and have the hanky episode considered just a dust up in typical Washington politics.

Its not that Millers comments were right in any fashion of the word acceptable," but the elder southern politician gets press for saying (and getting away with) what many whites wish they could say (with no apologizes to blacks) and linguistically avoid the race" card (because hes a Democrat).

Senator Zell Millers (D-Georgia) comments regarding the Democrats handling of four judicial nominations, particularly of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, rattled the liberal establishment, not because of his resistance to their protests of their nominations, but the vehemence of Millers rejection of the whole Democratic party establishment (with his new book, et al.). Zell Millers actions illustrate the growing disconnect between liberal Democratic powerbrokers and endangered Southern white male voters. The Georgia Senator deliberately bleeds Democratic blood for the reward of preserving power in the South. Millers use of the politics of personal destruction to preserve a dysfunctional, albeit-obtuse legacy: only Democrats from the South have been elected President since John F. Kennedy.

And it was these southern white men who set the agenda for the Democratic Party, the real power brokers behind the Washington 'liberal mystique.

Miller has never been peachy (no pun intended) in his opposition to the Democratic resistance to President Bushs economic and foreign policy courses, even though the economic trail (led by former Economic advisor Bruce Lindsey) and foreign policy debacles of Iraq and Afghanistan (Rumsfeld, Powell) have left the United States in a socio-economic quagmire that will extend into the 2004 election season. His loyalty to the Democratic Party has been called into question and Sen. Miller gave his famous answer that he was to old to change."

Thats understandable. But, to work as a neo-conservative populist on behalf of the Bush administration, deliberately attempting to undercut the political legs of the current Democratic presidential candidates? It doesnt sense unless you understand the evolution of Washington politics isnt as usual."

Why might a stalwart, conservative Democrat try and scuttle the current state of opposition resistance? A keen insight may be the insurgent nature of the Howard Dean campaign, a liberal, anti-establishment phenomenon, which (if successful in 2004) would marginalize the electability of conservative, southern Dems as a permanent hallmark of the Bill Clinton era. In those years, Sen. Zell Miller (then, Governor of Georgia) was a vocal supporter of Clinton (both Bill and Hillary) and praised his policies in the social and economic areas.

As a fellow southerner, Arkansan Bill Clinton, knew to walk carefully on progressive issues, yet knew how to talk the humble, affable appeal of the average Joe. Miller walks down this road for his constituency, voters who dont believe the hype of the slick, professional politician, who acts 'better than the President, rather someone who openly says he works with the administration, working with a 'quiet hand of opposition. Not the current stock and trade tactics of Bush-hating, fire-brand liberals.

And where is Bill Clinton during all of this party infighting? Apparently, waiting in the wings to congratulate the eventual Democratic nominee while mixing the pot giving helpful hints to those candidates still adhering the DNC logic against Bush machine (hard on his economic policy, while soft of Iraq -- let the media tell the tale).

When Sen. Zell Miller announced his intentions to vote for President Bush, the first salvo of civil war over the direction of the Democratic Party spilled from the viewpoints of the presidential candidates themselves to open conversation in the mainstream and conservative media.

Great for Clinton-empowered" southern white Democrats, bad for up-and-coming presidential candidates who may have to pass different litmus tests in both northern and southern states to survive until the Democratic nomination.

Even though the odds of a Dean rollover may be increasing in both Iowa and New Hampshire, Southern states such as South Carolina, Georgia, and Texas are different animals altogether, with dissimilar regional leaders and moderate to conservative policies which have made Democrats successful (a threat to all candidates save native-sons" Clark and Edwards). The question remains over how these nominees will compromise their pre-Iowa and New Hampshire rhetoric for southern religion (and electoral success).

Certainly, southern Democrat cum populist Zell Miller wont be around waiting for those answers; after all, hes still fighting the War of the Roses."

To win Sen. Zell Millers approval, maybe we need Hillary Clinton after all? At least shes married to a Southerner.

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Tommy Ates loves the left because the left is always right! Tommy Ates has appeared in several publications, such as The Houston Chronicle, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, The Wichita Eagle, The Macon Telegraph, and Global Black News, among others. Please consult contact information on column release dates and/ or pricing.