ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 1996 TAG: 9605220013
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Cal Thomas
SOURCE: CAL THOMAS
THE GATHERING of many of California's Republican leaders at a $1,000-per-plate fund-raiser May 16 might have been a wake had it not been for Sen. Bob Dole's announcement the day before that he was quitting the Senate and had it not been for the honoree, Elizabeth Dole.
Mrs. Dole worked the crowd using a wireless microphone, calling people by name as she passed their table and delivering a flawless speech without notes and without the security of a podium to stand behind. Her rhetorical triumph brought hope to a crowd that was worried about the Republican Party's prospects after reading one too many polls showing Dole far behind President Clinton.
``This election is about the character of America,'' said Mrs. Dole. She didn't say it was about the character of the candidates but of the country. It is an important distinction. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll last week found that by a margin of 54 percent to 26 percent, voters say a presidential candidate's positions on issues are more important than personal character and experience.
So if duty, honor, country have faded away along with Gen. Douglas MacArthur, we will find out in November.
Meanwhile, it's time for Bob Dole to follow up his class act with act two.
He should begin by stressing economic issues, because these are the great unifiers of the party, and it desperately needs to be unified. He should begin a conversation with the public about the proper role of government: What should government do and what shouldn't it do, and why? Why should we be focusing more on growth than on the deficit, and why will an across-the-board tax cut produce greater revenue for government by stimulating business and creating new jobs?
Elizabeth Dole says her husband carries a copy of the 10th Amendment with him as a reminder that powers not specifically delegated to the federal government or forbidden to the states are reserved for the states and the people. What that means and how government has violated that amendment should be Bob Dole's message.
Mrs. Dole summarized the unfairness of the current tax code in one easy-to-understand sentence: ``The average worker pays more in taxes than for food, shelter and clothing combined.'' Is it fair that tax freedom day for most came on May 7 this year, meaning the average American doesn't get to keep what he earns until more than one-third of the year has expired?
And Dole should remind us who will be in charge of government if he and congressional Republicans lose. It will be unredeemed liberals like Reps. Charles Rangel of New York, Henry Waxman of California and David Obey of Wisconsin. The 1994 election was supposed to be about change. The 1996 election ought not to be about returning power to the very people who caused the voters' wrath.
Someone suggested at the GOP dinner that Elizabeth Dole should debate Hillary Clinton. That won't happen, but Bob Dole can begin debating Bill Clinton now. He can do it with GOP-financed commercials featuring Clinton debating himself. The president can be cast as a promise-breaker, unreliable, lacking in conviction and as superficial as floor wax - all gloss and no depth. Rather than attack Clinton directly, let him be shown as a snake-oil salesman, who tells his listeners exactly what they want to hear about ``cures'' for their pain, which he claims to feel.
After a campaign of Clinton vs. Clinton, the focus should then be on the character of the voters: whether they believe character counts, or nothing counts. And then Bob Dole can promote his agenda. According to his wife, it's ``strict constructionist judges with no legislating from the bench, no more hollow military - we have many other enemies after the evil empire'' and the tax problem.
Bob Dole should repeat his wife's speech. It brought down the house in Los Angeles, and it could bring down President Clinton.
- Los Angeles Times Syndicate
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENTby CNB