Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 9, 1994 TAG: 9411170016
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In doing so, voters in the commonwealth bucked a national trend that saw the GOP surging in the Senate and House of Representatives and governorships.
Voters sent, in addition to more Republicans, a message to Washington: They're not happy with government. And this sentiment, despite the Virginia results, is likely as prevalent here as elsewhere.
In his public life, Robb has been dutiful if somewhat dull. He has backed tough talk on deficits with tough votes; he has taken courageous stands, on gays in the military, for example; and his career has not been built on divisive or resentment-exploiting demagoguery.
Yet Robb may owe re-election as much to North's crippling deficiencies as to his own record. That North, the former Iran-Contra figure, was even on the ballot suggests the depth of public anxiety about the future and anger with an arrogantly distant government. The Virginia GOP's poor choice of a messenger does not invalidate the message.
Meanwhile, Republicans' national surge found no help, either, in Virginia's 5th and 9th congressional districts, whose voters wisely re-elected the well-known and worthy incumbent Democrats, L.F. Payne and Rick Boucher. In the 6th, though, Democrats were a help: They found no one willing to challenge first-termer Bob Goodlatte.
And in the country as a whole, a grass-roots gust of wrath proved a potent aid to Republicans. They didn't merely increase their numerical strength in the next Congress; they did so by nationalizing the election as a referendum on President Clinton's and the Democrats' performance over the past two years. "Morphing" a Democratic opponent's face into Clinton's was this year's contribution to TV political-ad technique.
Clinton, however, is still president, and will remain so for at least two more years. Both sides have political reason to try to make the other look bad; beyond that, the two sides hold sincerely differing views on how America can best ensure prosperity.
Republicans clearly have struck a chord in calling for less government. But a similar chord, if not quite so augmented, was struck two years ago by Clinton when he called for slimmed-down and more responsive government. Some deficit-reduction and bureaucracy-streamlining progress has been made since 1992 - apparently too little, too slow for bitter voters' taste. More cutting, rightly, should be expected soon.
For Clinton, the morning-after question is whether to emphasize the bipartisan spirit shown in his push for approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or the inflexibility shown in the botched push for health-care reform. Political calculations might persuade the president toward the latter course, so he could run in '96 against do-nothing Republicans.
But the nation would fare better with the progress that now, given the GOP's gains, can come only with bipartisan support. In the new Congress, part of Robb's job will be to discover and develop points of agreement with his colleagues in the GOP.
The question for triumphant congressional Republicans is much the same but more so. It is easier to criticize than to construct, to obstruct than to share leadership. But no longer can they afford the luxury of being voices in the wilderness.
Now Republicans need to represent not just anger but the country. Now they are part of the governing establishment, with which voters on Tuesday showed eloquent displeasure.
Keywords:
ELECTION
by CNB