General’s Call for Inclusion Excites GOP

It was the newest Republican leader in the hall who electrified the GOP convention Monday night--with a vision of a party embracing minorities and the poor, promoting a federal government both activist and limited, and welcoming proponents of affirmative action and abortion rights as well as their opponents.

In a rousing speech filled with patriotism and passion, retired Gen. Colin L. Powell, who joined the party only last fall, declared himself a Republican who dares to be moderate, and challenged the rest of his newfound party to follow.

“The Republican Party must always be the party of inclusion,” the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said as delegates cheered. “The Hispanic immigrant who became a citizen yesterday must be as precious to us as a Mayflower descendant. . . .

“I became a Republican because I want to help fill the big tent that our party has raised to attract all Americans,” he said. “You all know that I believe in a woman’s right to choose [abortion]. And I strongly support affirmative action. . . . We are a big enough party, and a big enough people, to disagree on individual issues and still work together for our common goal: restoring the American dream.”

Republicans, he said, should fight for welfare reform “not just to save money, but because we believe there are better ways to take care of Americans in need. . . . And we must do it in a way that does not paint all of government as the enemy.”

Much of the former general’s speech was at odds with the anti-government, antiabortion social conservatism that has captured the sentiments of many delegates to this convention. And, indeed, his reference to supporting abortion rights and affirmative action drew scattered boos. But most of the audience in the San Diego Convention Center, endorsing at least his vision of a more inclusive party, interrupted Powell with repeated standing ovations.

Many delegates said they disagreed with Powell’s point of view, but they applauded because they admired him and approved of the basic thrust of his speech.

“He wasn’t saying, ‘Here’s what you should believe’; he was saying, ‘Here’s what I believe,’ ” observed Curt Hartman, a delegate from Cincinnati who opposes affirmative action. “It shows we can disagree and we’re a big enough party to say everybody is welcome.”

Others were more effusive. “It was exactly what we needed to hear--not only what we as Republicans needed to hear, but what Americans needed to hear about Republicans,” said Kay James, an African American woman and prominent abortion opponent who is a delegate from Virginia.

There was, of course, much for even the most conservative delegate to cheer.

The retired general, the first black to lead the nation’s armed forces, said he decided to declare himself a Republican “because I truly believe the federal government has become too large and too intrusive in our lives.” He made that decision, he said, after ruling out running for president himself.

Powell hailed the importance of “values [that] fuel families” who “then have the strength to withstand the assaults of contemporary life.”

“That’s why we Republicans believe that the family, fueled by values, must be restored to the central place in American life,” he declared. He proclaimed support for “a faster-growing economy where the free-enterprise system is unleashed to create wealth.”

But he also said the GOP must place itself more squarely on the side of the nation’s minorities and dedicate itself more clearly to fighting racial discrimination.

“Where discrimination still exists or where the scars of past discrimination contaminate the present, we must not close our eyes to it, declare a level playing field and hope it will go away by itself. It did not in the past; it will not in the future,” he said, explaining his support for affirmative action programs that promote jobs and college admission for minorities.

Thus, Powell’s 22-minute speech--much longer than that scheduled for anyone other than Dole himself--marked his formal debut as a major political figure.

Powell’s prominence in the program was especially notable at a convention where social conservatives like Patrick J. Buchanan have been excluded from the podium.

“It was electric,” declared California’s social services director, Eloise Anderson. Anderson, who is helping Gov. Pete Wilson overhaul the state’s welfare system and put poor parents into the work force, leaped to her feet when Powell called for an end to government entitlements.

Even some of those who disagree with Powell’s stance on controversial issues were effusive about his address.

Ward Connerly--a black Republican who is running the Proposition 209 campaign in California to ban affirmative action in government hiring, contracting and school admissions--stood up to applaud several times during the address and declared it a “powerful speech.”

Wilson, who also opposes affirmative action, called Powell’s speech “magnificent.”