THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604050005
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: PERRY MORGAN
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
``This is not about me, folks,'' says the billionaire with the memorable Texas twang. But, of course, the Reform Party is all about Ross Perot, his elephantine ego and fortune to match. If not from his pocket, how is the party to be funded? And if he is not to be its presidential candidate, who will be his puppet?
The idea of millions of people working their political will through Perot is a notion he peddles assiduously, and may actually believe, but his will is the way and the light. And, sadly, a light that failed.
Perot single-handedly raised deficits and the national debt from the depths of public denial - a great service and one that had to come from outside the regular order of politics which created both the debt and the pretense that it didn't matter. But diagnosis is one thing and treatment another. Perot has proved to be a newfangled Paul Revere who sounded the alarm and rode directly home to sit out the ensuing battle.
When Republicans took control of Congress in 1994 and began to do the hard and risky work of trimming entitlement spending and forging a balanced-budget plan, there was a big silence from down Dallas way. One could agree or not with individual items in the Contract With America, but Republicans brought an agenda for change tailored in large part to Perot's themes. The energy they poured into advancing that agenda was a direct reflection of the Texan's attack on gridlock. One might have expected some applause from Perot. Or, later, when a year of struggle ended in a game of double-dare-you between Congress and Bill Clinton, some use of Perot's leverage to break the budget deadlock.
What kept Perot on the sidelines is best known to him, but self-interest is a suspect in such matters. Third parties wane rather than wax when their objectives are advanced by established parties. Even had he played a pivotal role in a budget deal embracing a balanced-budget plan, the starring roles would have gone to others. Republicans were miffed at Perot's reticence. Steven Hofman, a party consultant, is quoted as saying: ``When he took a dive on this debate in October and November, it was a clear signal to Clinton that he could play this any way he wanted to and could isolate the Republicans.''
That, in any event, is the way it worked out (the Republicans as heavies), and that fact gives added point to the question: What is the Perot message this time? Some of the urgency has been bled from the debt-and-deficit matter by (1) a feeling that progress has been made and (2) realization that deficit control must reduce popular and costly benefits. The old dodge about getting the money from ``waste, fraud and abuse'' is no longer in play.
But if Perot has been wrestling with the hard facts of a changed set of facts, he gave no inkling on a recent speaking tour. And didn't need to really because, as he said, ``this is not about me.'' Believe it or not, he's simply a stand-in waiting for his party, through some sort of electronic convention, to choose the real nominee. Meantime, the name of Carl Owenby Jr. of Quincy, Fla., has been listed on a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ``nomination paper'' as Perot's stand-in running mate. When asked from his audience about Owenby by a man who said, ``I don't know who he is,'' Perot didn't bother to tell him. When a 20-year-old Texas A&M student asked why a new party would be better than the old ones, he replied: ``I don't care whether you vote for our party or not.''
Well, what would he do about controlling costs of Medicare and Medicaid? - surely a central question. Perot said that for such big programs he would appoint a panel of experts who would advance a solution and ``then we'll pilot-test it, de-bug it, optimize it.'' This sort of weirdness may cause some to wonder with GOP guru William Kristol whether Perot is ``an entirely sane individual.'' It will be interesting to see whether he remains in low Earth orbit or, at some point, is beamed farther up. Meantime, he's having lots of fun and, if the game palls, he can always make some excuse and go home for a while as he did four years ago - just in time to keep President George Bush from sabotaging his daughter's wedding. MEMO: Mr. Morgan is a former publisher of The Virginian-Pilot.
by CNB