It is probably politically incorrect to say that Jack Kemp’s life was distinguished more by its failures than by its accomplishments. But this is undeniably the case.
Granted, he was a superstar quarterback who led the Buffalo Bills to AFL Championships in 1964 and 1965. And he was a nine-term congressman from New York who pioneered supply-side economics, which holds that lowering taxes is the best way to grow the economy.
But his football legacy will always be overshadowed by those of contemporaries like Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath. In fact he will undoubtedly be remembered more as a politician than as a football player.
Yet his political legacy will always be overshadowed by that of former President Ronald Reagan. After all, it was Reagan who distilled Kemp’s macroeconomic philosophy into the pithy bumper-sticker slogan that was the clarion call of Reaganomics, namely: a rising tide lifts all boats. Even more, Kemp had to compete with another foot soldier in the Reagan revolution, David Stockman, to be credited with applying the doctrine of supply-side economics to the Reagan budget.
Not to mention his forgettable stint as Bob Dole’s VP running mate in the 1996 presidential election. They were barely competitive against incumbents Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
That said, the reason I find Kemp’s life worthy of this tribute is that he was a Republican Democrats could like way before Joe Lieberman became a Democrat Republicans could like. For Kemp was more of a progressive than an ideologue. Indeed, nothing distinguished his efforts to give substance to Reagan’s notion of a big-tent Republican Party quite like his outreach to minority groups. He insisted that:
…modern-day black entrepreneurs deserved the same low taxes that were in place when the Carnegies, Rockefellers and Mellons made their fortunes.
Most notably, he wanted to transform public housing into tenant-owned housing. And key in this respect was enacting enterprise zones to induce businesses to invest in the inner cities.
Alas, none of the good intentions of this “bleeding-heart conservative” in this respect was ever realized.
Kemp finally lost his battle with cancer on Saturday at his home in Maryland. He was 73.
Farewell Jack
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