Dole Must Quit Waffling, Detail A Vision
Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole’s front-runner status is in jeopardy.
His tie with fellow candidate Texas Sen. Phil Gramm in the recent Iowa straw poll revealed his vulnerability. Despite his mostly conservative Senate voting record, especially on abortion, Majority Leader Dole is not trusted fully by the family-values wing of his party.
Two recent reports have added to suspicions that the Kansas senator is more of a process man than one who would not compromise on issues regarded as fundamental by conservatives.
A front-page New York Times story quoted Dole as saying he would be satisfied with Colin Powell as a vice presidential choice. He described the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as “probably” an economic conservative and a social moderate.
And a front-page Washington Times story quoted Dole as saying at a Republican National Committee meeting in Philadelphia last month that he’s “willing to be another Ronald Reagan. … If that’s what you want, I’ll be another Ronald Reagan.” The line was viewed as insincere and groveling by some who heard it.
Dole is scheduled to deliver a speech in Chicago next week; it may be his last opportunity to articulate a list of firm principles from which he will not deviate.
Perhaps he should call it his own contract with, or promise to, America. It worked for House candidates last year; it could work for Dole, especially if he says he was wrong in the past about compromises with Democrats over tax increases.
Dole will have to do more, however, than recast himself. He needs to be reincarnated. We need to know what constitutes Dole’s vision for America.
George Bush disparaged “the vision thing,” but people want to know where their would-be leader would lead them. Dole must demonstrate that he has the traits of a president, not those of a Senate majority leader.
There was only one Ronald Reagan. Is there only one Bob Dole? Who is he?
Conservatives have come too far over a very long time to settle for an inside-the-Beltway candidate who believes in finessing his opponents rather than defeating them on ideological grounds. The contest for high office is about a conflict between ideas, some of them irreconcilable.
Why hasn’t liberalism worked, senator? Do people really want to “reconnect” with their government, as you have promised to help them do, or would they prefer to disconnect from overpriced, unworkable programs?
Which Cabinet-level and sub-Cabinet-level departments would you eliminate, and why, with no functions being transferred to other departments and agencies?
Would you work to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts instead of just cutting its budget, as congressional Republicans have done, and why?
Would you announce a stepped-up campaign to increase the number of crisis pregnancy centers and adoption options as the best alternative to abortion?
And what about your White House staff? Would you name conservatives to the highest posts, including chief of staff, so that you would have people working for you and not against you?
Conservatives - the center of the Republican Party and of America - want someone of strong convictions who won’t waffle when the heat is turned up by liberals, someone with a track record of consistency and dedication to the conservative cause.
The Manchester (N.H.) Union-Leader recently editorialized that Dole is a “man without a message.” His speech next week in Chicago is an opportunity to prove that he has a message and to link economics to the moral revival of the nation. Revival is not primarily the work of government, although government can stop working against it.
Dole should forget the so-called “moderates” in the Republican Party. They’re history, and their history has done little to win presidential elections. Moderation is the sole virtue of one who believes in nothing substantial.
Bob Dole must wake up and smell the conservative coffee. If he doesn’t, he’ll be history, too.
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