Bill Bradley: Can He Get Into the Game? (Page 3)

As he was leaving the Senate, Bradley did feint in the direction of daring. When he announced in 1995 that he would retire from Congress--he had won his second re-election bid in 1990 by only 3 percentage points--Bradley lashed out at both parties: "The Republicans are infatuated with the 'magic' of the private sector and reflexively criticize government as the enemy of freedom, and the Democrats distrust the market, preach government as the answer to our problems, and prefer the bureaucrat they know to the consumer they can't control. Neither party speaks to people where they live their lives." Here was Bradley-knows-best. He toyed with the idea of challenging Clinton as an independent but eventually concluded that it was too difficult to raise money outside his party. When courting Democratic voters now, he tells them he considered running for President in 1988 and 1992; he does not mention the renegade bid he eschewed.

Eventually, Bradley will probably have to share more of himself and his ideas with the public. (When a reporter in New Hampshire asked him to name his favorite novels, he testily refused.) He will have to take sides--at least on certain policy issues. If he's for universal health coverage, how will he propose to reach that goal? That one decision could cost him money from corporate contributors or support from healthcare activists. For now, though, Bradley is sticking to his values-for-all vision, trying to demonstrate that he can guide and galvanize the nation.

In Manchester Bradley was the guest at a YMCA "character" breakfast held in a gym. Standing beneath large banners that bore the buzzwords of the day--HONESTY, CARING, RESPONSIBILITY, RESPECT--he was in values overdrive. He talked about the importance of diligence. Why work so hard? he asked the children present. Because, he answered, "those who love you are watching you." This was the cue for a wonderful tale. Many years ago, Bradley said, there was a player on the Georgetown University football team named Billy Carroway. He was not a starter and never got to play. In his last year on the squad, the team reached the championship game. Throughout the game, Georgetown trailed. No matter what the Georgetown coach did, he could not move his team into the lead. Meanwhile, Carroway kept trying to win the coach's attention and earn some playing time. Then, in the closing moments, with Georgetown down by three points, the frustrated coach signaled to Carroway.

Carroway entered the game, and, as time ran out, he caught the winning touchdown pass. After the celebrating, the coach asked Carroway what had made him so determined to succeed. Carroway explained that he was motherless and that his blind father had never been able to watch him play. But his father had recently died, which meant he could now look down on his son. This game would be the last chance his father would have to see him play. Carroway had no choice, he told the coach: "I had to succeed."

The story held the imagination of the crowd. It was drenched with values: faith, love, dedication, determination. No politics. No policy. It was out of the movies--the old-fashioned movies. Bradley used it to connect to the crowd, to demonstrate that he is a man of those values and that he can inspire millions of others to strive toward such stirring success--which is why, he says, he is running for President.

Later that day, I asked Eric Hauser, Bradley's press secretary, for the origins of the Carroway story. It took him a week to respond. When Hauser called, he said Bradley told him that he first heard the story about thirty years ago. But--to save me time--Hauser had contacted Georgetown. The school, he said, "has no record of that player, and, on a hunch, I checked with Notre Dame. There's no record there. Everyone thinks it's a true story. But I can't source it."

Is Bradley dishing out substance-free inspiration? Was there no Billy Carroway? Does it matter? After all, how concrete can one expect a campaign of values to be? There is an elusive quality to Bradley's bid (big ideas without specifics, tell-me-your-stories campaigning)--and perhaps to Bradley himself. At the end of May, the Pew Research Center published a poll revealing that most voters who believe they are familiar with Bradley rate his ideology as identical to their own, scoring him precisely in the middle of the conservative-to-liberal scale and to the right of Al Gore. At this point, people see in Bradley what they want to see. Is he Chauncey Gardiner with brains?

For Democrats nervous about Gore or alienated by Clinton, Bradley offers a safe escape route. He challenges the Democratic status quo without challenging the foundations of that status quo. He represents change without change. Although Bradley, in his fireless way, has suggested that he favors universal healthcare, an unfettered global economy, restrictions on handguns, Medicare change, school vouchers, public financing of campaigns and labor law reform, he is popularly viewed as a man of moderation. Maybe that's because, as the Rev. Reginald Jackson learned, Bradley has rarely taken up in full the challenges of his own sermons.

• « Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3

• Get The Nation at home (and online!) for 68 cents a week!
• If you like this article, consider making a donation to The Nation.
• Reprint this article. Click here for rights and information.