Chris Bell: The Mandate of the New Mainstream

"The Mandate of the New Mainstream" (PDF) - Chris Bell

(Update ... web-version of full speech is now posted online as well)

It begins ....

There is a New Mainstream in Texas that shares an optimistic vision of freedom, responsibility and accountability. The New Mainstream includes all of us who believe in rewarding hard work, recognizing new ideas and relying on each other and ourselves.

...

Our shared moral code demands that we consider the common good. Because in the New Mainstream, there are no big people or little people. We are all in this together, and we can?t afford to leave anyone behind.

I'm not one for hyperbole or boot-licking of candidates I count as a friend, but this is about as bold a speech as Texas politics has seen in ages. I mean, hell, I'll be honest - I keep expecting Chris to never be able to really stack up to the ideals I hope to see in a candidate for our side, and I think I'm through with him proving me wrong in how he keeps stepping up to the challenge of our times:

I am a free man. But it is a taller order to meet the measure of a reform candidate.

But if reform means rejecting the old battle lines in search of common ground, then I?m a reform candidate.

If reform means raising my voice against the silent crisis in higher education, then I?m a reform candidate.

If they mean that I will make state government as accountable as it holds
our school children, then I?m the reform candidate.

If reform means shining a spotlight on not just an ethics truce, but an
ethics surrender in the governor?s office, then I?m a reform candidate.

If they mean I will demand real ethics reform, not later, not soon, but
without delay, then yes, I am your reform candidate.

I have no desire to spend the rest of my adult life stuck in a partisan trench, never giving an inch toward common ground. We need to stop pretending that what we are doing is working and start an honest discussion about how we can make things better.

This is the mandate of the New Mainstream. We know that the moral courage to hold government accountable is linked to our ability to raise the next generation of entrepreneurs.

So, there ya go ... you now have an election that revolves around reform on the one hand, and the decrepit status quo on the other. An incumbent governor who looks to Mississippi for his health care solutions and to Louisiana for their economic development model ... or someone who's been on the front lines of making government accountable from the city council on up.

Two names come to mind when I read this speech: Bill Clinton and Buddy Roemer. And there's no higher compliment I can bestow upon this speech than to compare it favorably to the elements that each candidate has brought to the forefront over the past 20 years. In the comparison to Clinton's pin-point accurate critique of George H. W. Bush's governance, I think Chris nails the disparity between the ideals that a majority of Texans can coalesce around and the ethically challenged manner in which the current state government has gone about building on those ideals. In the comparison to Roemer, I see a strong parallel to how Chris illuminates the path forward to meet those ideals. In Roemer's 1987 campaign, he ran a poignant television ad in which he stated plainly (no backdrops, no props, just Buddy on a stool in a nondescript soundstage) that he loved Louisiana, but hated Louisiana politics. In 1987, it was enough to put him over the top of one Edwin Edwards. Sadly, the point of reference we now have in office is not noticably better than the example Edwards set. Chris has modernized a reformist agenda that stays well within the Texas mainstream and that's no minor accomplishment.

The bulk of Chris' appeal centers around an optimistic, idealistic, and still realistic appeal. The critiques of Rick Perry are strong and well-deserved. But beyond that, this is an appeal that can unite a vast swathe of voters. It's very much a moderate, good-government emphasis that's been Chris' bread and butter for years. But it also hits hard on those areas where more and more Texans are seeing their state fall behind in terms of education, health care, productivity, and innovation. Rick Perry's approach to fixing all of that is to build a highway and push the harshest of health care cuts until after his presumed re-election. Either way, there's a date with destiny that must be met. Chris' speech is one that should do well to unite every stripe of Democrat to hit the hustings in their hometowns and reach out to those voters who know in their hearts that we can do better than we presently are.

Full Disclosure: I have a bit non-speaking role in "Team Bell" and Chris is a friend. My early endorsement of Chris is also a matter of record, a formal post of such is forthcoming.

PS: In the event that this is a selling point with some, I think it's well worth highlighting the entertainment value of having a governor with this sense of humor:

God gave us Texas to teach the rest of the world about freedom. And when John Kennedy asked the nation to do something not because it was easy, but because it was hard, he didn?t go to Washington, he came to Texas.27 This is where we make our stand. And we start by making it our top priority to dispense hope.

You?re either dispensing hope, or you?re spreading dispair. You?re either
for opening democracy, or you?re defending a closed political ideology.

You?re either for lifting the next generation into the New Mainstream, or
you?re just another brick in the wall. (28)

28 - Chris Bell in no way advocates going to laser light shows or listening to Pink Floyd without adult supervision. He generally cautions against listening to Pink Floyd and specifically against taking mind-altering drugs.