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Sunday, December 30, 2007
Sitting down with Sam Nunn: His attempt to shape the presidential debate
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Had a lengthy sit-down with Sam Nunn this afternoon on the topic of this effort to put together a kind of truth-telling squad that would force the current crop of presidential candidates, Republican and Democrats, to address some of the tougher issues of the day.
In a series of webcast seminars, not unlike what Newt Gingrich attempted in September, Nunn and former secretary of defense William Cohen, a Republican, would toss out ideas on thick topics like America’s flagging credibility in foreign policy, the unhealthy reliance on foreign counties to underwrite our debt, and so on.
Nunn still says his own candidacy for president as an independent remains unlikely, but he concedes what he’s doing could lead to someone — Michael Bloomberg, say — jumping into the contest. Also, in August, Nunn ruled out a vice presidential candidacy. He didn’t do that today.
Read the complete article here. But very quickly, here are some key Nunn quotes:
— On building a source of information for candidates in either party: “Anybody could pick it up. Either democratic candidates or republican candidates or both. Or let them debate it. Or it could lead to an independent candidacy. It’s entirely possible that it could.”
— On the barriers to running an independent presidential campaign: “The only one that can mount that kind of campaign without a whole lot of consensus building is Bloomberg, because he’s got the money. Anybody else, they’ve got to get out there and raise some money. That’s a huge job to raise the money and do the intellectual work at the same time.”
— On himself: “I’ve never been interested in running for president for the sake of running for president. Or being president for the sake of being president. Or being vice president for the sake of being vice president. Only if I’m intellectually stimulated and believe I can take four or five major things and try to get them accomplished for the country — that would stimulate me.”
— And yet: “This is the kind of thing I’d be doing if I were going to run. And everybody would tell you, it’s not the way to run for president. And I would not argue that that’s right. But it’s the only way I’d run…if I couldn’t build a consensus in the campaign, there’d be no reason in being elected.”
Nunn, other centrists make a bid for building a bipartisan presidential consensus
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Former U.S. senator Sam Nunn of Georgia has put himself at the center of a bipartisan effort to force both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates to spell out plans for a “government of national unity” that would put an end to Washington gridlock.
He and former Senate colleague David Boren of Oklahoma have put their names to a letter summoning a dozen middle-of-the-road members of both parties to a Jan. 7 meeting at the University of Oklahoma.
More to come shortly, but here’s the sum of the Dec. 17 letter:
Thank you for agreeing to join us to exchange ideas about constructive ways in which we might help stimulate a meaningful debate during the current presidential campaign on the important challenges facing our nation.
Our political system is, at the least, badly bent and many are concluding that it is broken at a time where America must lead boldly at home and abroad. Partisan polarization is preventing us from uniting to meet the challenges that we must face if we are to prevent further erosion of America’s power of leadership and example.
The next president of the United States will be faced with what has been described as a “gathering storm” both at home and abroad. Serious near term challenges include the lack of a national strategy to deal with our fiscal challenges, our educational challenges, our energy challenges, our environmental challenges, as well as the dangerous turbulence triggered by the current financial crisis.
In the national security arena, our nation must rebuild and reconfigure our military forces. We must develop a viable and sustainable approach to nuclear proliferation and terrorism and greatly strengthen our intelligence and diplomatic capabilities. Most importantly, we must begin to restore our standing, influence, and credibility in the world. Today, we are a house divided. We believe that the next president must be able to call for a unity of effort by choosing the best talent available - without regard to political party - to help lead our nation.
To say the obvious, the presidential debates thus far have produced little national discussion of these and other fundamental issues and plans to address them. If this pattern continues through this important national election, it will produce neither a national consensus for governing nor a president who can successfully tackle these threats to our nation’s future. We understand the rough and tumble part of the political process, but without a modicum of civility and respect in our debates, forming a bipartisan consensus on the major issues after the election will be virtually impossible.
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