After a Super Bowl or a World Series is lost, coaches of the losing team will sit down and discuss reasons for defeat. They try to find out why they lost so they can make improvements to their team, so next year maybe they can get over the hump.

This works in sports, and often teams will get close to the pinacle and stumble before finally winning it all.

Of course this has not worked in the case of the Atlanta Braves baseball team which has won division title after division title in the 90’s, but has only one World Series title to show for its efforts. The reason, is plainly, the Braves do not have good relief pitching, and season after season, they have not fixed this problem. When the problem is not fixed, the problem persists.

This is a basic principle in sports, and it often works out the same way in life in general. We all stumble over things in our personal lives at times, until we figure out what is making us stumble. Once we get it figured out, we are in a position to remove the obstacles to success.

This is probably also true in politics.

The recent acquittal of the president is a striking example. Regardless of what one thinks of the things that have transpired over the past year in the Clinton-Lewinsky matter, the bottom line is that it was political in nature.

The Senate refused to convict the president. The vote went along party lines and the Republicans just did not have enough votes. Remember back when the indictment was handed up. The vote to indict and send the matter to a full impeachment proceeding, was clearly done along political lines. It is not surprising then that the refusal to convict also went along political lines.

If you think about politics in terms of sports, one could say that Republicans are 0-3 in World Series level competitions in the 1990’s.

Presidential elections were lost in 1992 and in 1996, and last week they lost a move to remove the guy who beat them twice. That makes them 0-3. With another election coming up in the year 2000, another chance arises to break the losing streak.

Perhaps, like a good coach, Republicans on the national level should take a hard look at what they are doing.

A different strategy is needed.

Since 1992, the Republican strategy has been to criticize Clinton and any other Democrat they could think of at the moment. From Republicans I have only heard, for six years, about how bad the Democrats are in general, and what a sleazeball the president is. This is particularly true in newspaper columns and on radio talk shows.

I have not heard why the Republicans are good, though, and that might be the key.

Maybe Republicans should just accept the fact that they have lost three World Series in the 90’s and move on.

Wallowing in defeat, and creating a stink about it, usually leaves one in a defeated state.

The way to get out of a defeated state is to change one’s attitude toward the battle, and to try new strategies.

Instead of weeping and wailing, they should just get over their losses and focus on how they can overcome those defeats in the future.

I am not impressed with politicians who criticize other politicians. I am impressed with politicans who can tell me in straightforward language why he or she is a good candidate.

Perhaps this would be a good strategy for the 2000 election and beyond. A new strategy which involves telling the public good things about the party, instead of just trashing the other one, might just end that losing streak.

In the meantime the Democrats are licking their chops anticipating another World Series title in 2000.