A Contradictory Message Resounds in San Diego

For all that was embodied in the moving tribute to the past glories of former President Ronald Reagan, what Colin Powell represented in his stellar speech at the Republican National Convention Monday night should be the future of the GOP. His mantra of inclusion and diversity as strengths for the nation, his emphasis on common values were wildly applauded. But his words were oddly out of sync with the lack of tolerance in the GOP’s approved platform, and with the homogeneity of its delegates gathered in San Diego.

“I became a Republican because I want to help fill the big tent that our party has raised to attract all Americans,” the retired general declared. “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.”

Yet the platform adopted this week indicates no such open-mindedness. It states unequivocally that there should be an amendment to the Constitution outlawing all abortions; it calls for denying birthright citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants, thus ending the constitutional guarantee that any child born on U.S. soil is an American citizen.

Bob Dole, soon to be officially named the GOP candidate for president, says he doesn’t feel bound by his party’s platform. Yet, there it is.

The vice presidential candidate-designate, Jack Kemp, now says he agrees with Dole’s support of Proposition 209, the anti-affirmative-action measure on California’s November ballot, even as he insists that Republicans reach out to minorities; economic opportunity must be the engine, he says. How do outreach and economic opportunity square with Kemp’s new embrace of Proposition 187, the 1994 measure that called for children of illegal immigrants to be denied public school education--a measure Kemp once courageously and strongly denounced?

Words versus actions, actions versus words. The mixed message has to be confusing to the very people whom a new GOP indeed must reach. Minority representation at the convention is down sharply from 1992, and even then the numbers were weak. While minority representation in the California delegation is proportionately better, nationally only 54 African Americans and 47 Latinos are among the 1,990 delegates in San Diego. In terms of percentages, the figures are about 3% black, 3% Latino, 1% Asian and 1% Native American.

None of this matches the bright, multicolored picture painted by Powell. It was a fine speech. But much more earnest work must be done, and consistent messages sent, before the GOP can boast the true diversity that the party of Lincoln should be able to claim.