Capitalist Tool Time

Steve Forbe is running for president and may well win the GOP nomination. But whaind of road is he traveling?

John J. Pitney, Jr. from the July 1998 issue

(Page 4 of 4)

Such a commonsensical position shouldn't require courage, but it does. Even though many Democrats have acknowledged the system's flaws, Republicans always invite trouble when they discuss programs for the elderly. In 1986, Senate Republicans lost their majority in part because they supported a modest adjustment in benefit increases. A couple of years ago, Democrats drew blood with their "Mediscare" campaign. In both cases, the GOP sustained damage even though it retreated--or perhaps because it retreated. In light of widespread public support for reform, Forbes believes that a strong, firm position will prevail in the end.

Forbes also differs from Hill Republicans on affirmative action. Increasingly paranoid about charges of "racism," the congressional GOP has been caving in to the regime of racial preferences. House Republicans could not get an anti-preference bill out of committee. While passing the shameful highway bill, Senate Republicans failed to repeal the even-more-shameful program that sets aside up to 10 percent of federal highway construction contracts to minority and female-owned businesses. Forbes, however, has been speaking out against state-sponsored discrimination. His group sponsored an ad campaign to support the Washington State Civil Rights Initiative. Forbes said that the measure would "reassert the moral principle that all Americans have been created equal in the eyes of the law, regardless of race or gender or national origin."

Forbes has criticized GOP congressional leaders for yielding too much ground to the White House on budget issues, and they've hinted at retribution. On CNN's Evans and Novak, Senate Majority Leader Lott recently said: "I've got this to say to some of the people that are using that as a method to get the nomination: They'd better be real careful. They may be surprised whose help they might need....I don't appreciate it, and I'm not going to put up with it, I'll tell you that."

And on one important issue--immigration--Forbes has risked the antagonism of GOP grassroots activists, who see immigrants as burdens instead of assets. Forbes strongly supports legal immigration, because of his belief that human beings are the ultimate resource. He editorialized against California's Proposition 187 (which would have denied government benefits, including public schooling, to illegal aliens), and opposed a national version of the measure during his 1996 presidential campaign. He also came out against a constitutional ban on citizenship for children of illegal immigrants--a position that had enough GOP support to earn a place in the party platform. A leader of a California anti-immigration group told the Los Angeles Times that Forbes deserved special condemnation: "Steve Forbes basically says immigration makes Americans work harder. Here's a guy who inherited all of his money, never had to work for a dollar, and is telling us we have to compete against 4 billion people. Outrageous." (Although he inherited much of his wealth, of course, Forbes is in fact a CEO whose fortunes are tied closely to how well he runs the family publishing business.)

Whether out of courage or naiveté, Forbes is saying what he thinks. It's an unusual way to prepare for a presidential race.

The GOP Field

At the moment, that race appears open. Forbes won the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference in late January. He was the first choice of 23 percent of the attendees, compared with 10 percent for Texas Gov. George W. Bush. At the Southern Republican Leadership Conference a few weeks later, Bush led with 18 percent. Forbes placed second with 15 percent, followed by Dan Quayle with 12 percent.

These unscientific results, together with soundings of GOP activists, indicate that Bush is Forbes's strongest competitor. The funny thing, though, is that few Republicans outside Texas can identify anything he has done as governor. Just as Zsa Zsa Gabor was famous for being famous, Bush is popular for being popular. Name identification, of course, has much to do with it, and even that is a mixed blessing. Because of his 1990 budget deal and his humiliating loss to Bill Clinton, the elder Bush has become the "yada yada" chapter of GOP history: "Reagan cut taxes and won the Cold War, then yada, yada, yada, Clinton came along."

At the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Dan Quayle praised Reagan extravagantly, but only once did he mention the man who chose him as vice president--and then only as Saddam Hussein's assassination target. The rest of Quayle's remarks were in character, which is to say that they ranged from trite to embarrassing. At one point, he described "the centerpiece of our anti-crime plan: Three interns and you're out!" He held up three fingers, perhaps trying to prove that he could count.

On his geekiest day, Forbes does better than that.

And if Forbes sometimes has a "robotic" speaking style, Lamar Alexander must really be a robot. His total lack of originality or spontaneity suggests an artificial life form that someone assembled from pieces of old politicians, according to a focus-grouped blueprint. Consider the tag line of his Web site (www. lamaralexander.com): "For the new century, America needs not so much a new kind of government--not a Squarer Deal or a Fairer Deal or a Greater Society--but a New Spirit...." This depth of banality is far beyond the reach of any natural-born human.

Libertarians would be hard put to identify a potential GOP candidate (or, for that matter, a Democrat) whose positions are more acceptable than those of Forbes. Like other GOP proto-candidates, Bush, Quayle, and Alexander all oppose drug legalization and support abortion restrictions in varying degrees. Forbes outshines them on other issues, especially in his forthright stance on the flat tax. Compare his position with what Alexander said in 1996: "Taxes need simplifying and some of them need lowering."

Forbes is far from a perfect candidate. In his public style, he will never match the Great Communicator. In his issue positions, he will never completely please all the wings of the Republican Party. But the perfect candidate does not exist. Among the likely contenders, who else is there?