Listen To What The Candidate Is Saying

This week Bob Dole singed his eyebrows.

Heat came from all sides. The presidential candidate was uncomfortably close to the flames of the abortion debate.

Pat Buchanan strategically chose the anti-abortion fight to define the nature of his visit to the upcoming Republican Party Convention.

In doing so he dragged the debate back into the limelight and pushed the GOP’s hand on hot-button issue No. 1.

Conservative Americans delight in the fact that Buchanan is a force to be reckoned with. He’s a charismatic soldier battling for their cause.

He forced tolerant language about abortion out of the Republican presidential platform. Ironically, he also coerced Dole into sacrificing his own views.

Tempering pro-choice Republicans became the candidate’s next challenge. They could have interpreted the changed platform as buckling under pressure from the right.

The GOP also hoped to avoid Buchanan’s scalding rhetoric and the factionalism that damaged George Bush’s second run for the White House.

Dole spent the end of this week negotiating in the name of a united front. Republicans for choice consented. Now moderate platform amendments that didn’t make it will be published in the document as an appendix.

Voters can decide on their own whether Dole and the GOP cracked under pressure from the right, or whether or not the candidate skillfully brought adversaries to common ground.

But just how important is a party’s platform? It’s never going to be as strong as the candidate carrying the message. When citizens go to the polls in November, they’ll elect a leader who can tackle America’s woes, not an operative answering only to a party or a cabinet of “experts.”

So continue to watch the moves of Bob Dole the man, not the planks in the platform.

It will be incumbent on Dole to express his personal views throughout his campaign, especially in the midst of disagreement.

Abortion is only one of many issues defining this election season. It may not even be very important in electing the next president. New tax and welfare plans, education and crime prevention influence more voters, as these are issues that touch their lives. That’s why voters should listen for Bob Dole’s voice throughout this election, not just the voice of the Republican platform committee.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Elana Ashanti Jefferson For the editorial board