Elephant in the Tent: Who’s a Republican? : Reagan’s answer made a lot more sense than Buchanan’s

Two distinct visions of the elephant’s Big Top--and of America itself--were on display at the Republican National Convention Monday night in speeches from erstwhile presidential candidate Patrick J. Buchanan and former President Ronald Reagan. Americans were treated to something like a prime-time version of “Honey, I Shrunk the Tent,” followed closely by the summer sequel, “Honey, I Blew Up the Party.”

The contrasting appeal of these two figures--Buchanan, winner of zero primaries, and Reagan, winner of two landslide presidential elections--is evident enough in the electoral record. But in a nation celebrated for its diversity, the small-tent concept and the big-tent concept of Republicanism were starkly at odds in opening-night speeches designed to warm up the party faithful. There’s no question that the former President’s inclusiveness stood far above the nastiness served up by his former communications director.

In his unnecessarily divisive attack on homosexuals, Hillary Clinton and abortion rights, Buchanan hurled his polemicist’s spear. But though conservatives have dominated the agenda-setting for this gathering, the party shows signs of internal restiveness. And the central Republican message and its appeal to Americans are very much in need of definition. Moderates and pragmatists, sensing that the narrowness of rhetoric like Buchanan’s can drive people out of the tent, understandably were uneasy.

In fact, some who justifiably might have felt they were targets of Buchanan’s lancing have been in the hall this week on official party business. For example, Frank Ricchiazzi, an openly gay delegate from Orange County, has been active in his party for as long as some of the Young Turks of the religious right have been alive. And entertainer Tanya Tucker, a single mother of two who is an uncomfortable fit with the GOP party line on “family values,” sang the national anthem. These two Republicans are like many Americans--and they are a reminder of the risk to the party of excluding those who otherwise share its views.

So this question of diversity is very much at issue down on the convention floor in Houston this week. The narrow extremists are active, visible and audible, but they do not necessarily reflect the sentiments of mainstream rank-and-file party members. And the Republican Party must understand that it is competing for the allegiance of a diverse nation in this and future elections.

Compare the Reagan performance. The former President took his own shots at the Democrats, which was to be expected in the ritual roasting at a party convention. But the former President also said: “Now let’s not dismiss our current troubles, but where they (Democrats) see only problems, I see possibilities--as vast and diverse as the American family itself.” This was an unambiguous appeal to a nation’s sense of purpose, regardless of who we all may be as individuals.

But a former President by definition represents his party’s past electoral triumphs, not its future direction. It is up to others now to shape the course. With an economy in very rough shape indeed, and with some old Republican themes overtaken by world events, those who put up the Big Top should start with a diverse America as a given.