So where does Candidate Bush come in? The opportunity is grand to seize on the issue in order to bear down on judicial usurpation.
Gov. Bush could explain that (a) he entirely agrees with the Democratic candidate on the need for faith in public life. And go on to say, (b) that the systematic assaults on religion in public life, done under the whiplash of the judiciary, are a cause for national concern. As president -- Mr. Bush might now promise -- in behalf of his duties to safeguard the Constitution and its provision for the separation of powers, he would declare the national interest as calling for a modification of judicial extremism in its interpretation of the First Amendment religious clauses.
Candidate Bush could take the occasion to expand his concern over judicial interventions. The news is very hot that in extensive recent findings in three suburban centers, black students who were given vouchers and attended non-public schools profited hugely -- enduringly -- from the relative benefits of discipline, close ties to the family and increased expectations. Bush could, without fear that Candidate Lieberman would object to it, assert a national interest in the freedom of schools to sponsor non-denominational prayer.
What would Candidate Gore do in such circumstances? Without any objection from the ADL, he could remove himself into a park or forest and pray privately for guidance. But when he emerged, he would need either to endorse Gov. Bush's call for public reproach of the court -- as Abraham Lincoln reproached it after Dred Scott, and President Roosevelt and successors after Plessy vs. Ferguson, the separate-but-equal decision -- or say that Candidate Lieberman was talking hot air when he spoke about the need to reintroduce faith in America's public life.
That would be a fine meeting of minds. And Gov. Bush could promise that, from the White House, he would consult Sen. Lieberman on the means of implementing his devout recommendations.