Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels last week addressed the annual meeting of the National Conference of Editorial Writers in Indianapolis. He didn't tell us what we really wanted to know — why he decided against seeking the Republican nomination for president this year — but he gave us a pretty good idea. Our democracy is broken.
Mr. Daniels is slight in stature, but he stood tall in describing the challenge facing our nation's ability to govern itself, rising above the cacophony of catty chatter dominating the current Republican nominating process.
As bad as the nation's debt problem is, Mr. Daniels said, the bigger problem facing the country is its inability to communicate with itself. Fixing the democracy, he said, starts with the concept of "assuming the best about our fellow Americans."
That's a rare sentiment in politics these days, on the left as well as the right, although a few members of both parties embrace the concept. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, has made a similar point in several speeches in the last few months, lamenting political speech that attacks opponents rather than focuses on issues.
Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman has struck the theme, too, but the former Utah governor's support barely registers in many GOP polls. This, perhaps, is a good indicator of why Mr. Daniels chose to sit out this race.
In his speech, Mr. Daniels decried the politics of personal destruction. He complimented President Barack Obama for his work on education reform. He lamented the state of today's political discourse without personally criticizing a soul. He offered a nuanced view of the role of government in society.
"We never let skepticism about big government turn into contempt for all government," Mr. Daniels said.
It was refreshing. And it is precisely what this country needs.
He even went so far as to praise, not bury, the news media. "You are an indispensable part of a free society," he said.
OK, so he was preaching to the choir. But it was smart politics.
So, too, it seems, was choosing not to run for president at this point. If the most recent GOP debates are an accurate bellwether of the state of the Republican electorate, Mr. Daniels would have no chance. He doesn't scapegoat Muslims or immigrants enough. He wouldn't cheer Texas putting to death more than 200 criminals. He doesn't seem the kind of man to celebrate leaving vulnerable citizens behind in the name of destroying government's viability.
Before and after the editorial writers heard from Mr. Daniels, we discussed the sad state of reader comments on our newspaper websites, where anonymous extremism too often drives away those who want to have a thoughtful discussion. The level of communication on websites these days all too often mirrors what is happening in the political arena.
"We empowered the wrong people and scared away the people we wanted to talk to," Indianapolis Star Editor Dennis Ryerson said in a panel discussion.
There's a strong connection between the problem that newspapers face and the problem political parties face in elevating the level of conversation.
By allowing — indeed, encouraging — the most vehement among us to overwhelm our conversations, we've driven away those who should be leading meaningful discussions.
The GOP circus, it seems, did the same thing to derail Mitch Daniels' possible candidacy.
— Tony Messenger
