ERHARD BMW

What Direction
Is Right For GOP?

JAMES D. BESSER
Washington Correspondent

I

f you thought the 2000 presi-
dential race was going CO be a
big yawn, take a look at what's
happening in the Republican
Party, where two opposing forces are
about to clash with a big bang.
The consequences will be enor-
mous for Jewish Republicans, who
continue to harbor hopes that they
can attract more Jews to their party.
More importantly, the collision could
affect the outcome of a number of
bitter legislative battles currently
under way in the capital.
You have to sympathize with the
plight of Republican leaders.
On one hand, they see the aston-
ishing popularity of President
Clinton, which has enabled him to
survive scandals that would have
buried most politicians, and they
draw the obvious conclusion: Mr.
Clinton has thrived against all odds
at least in part because of his uncan-
ny ability to find and exploit the
American political center.
The Republicans, most polls
agree, were hurt in the last two pres-
I idential contests by the widespread
I perception that the party is too
influenced by the hard right, and
they were punished at the polls in
the 1996 congressional elections for
what many voters saw as the excesses
of the first Republican Congress in
30 years.
The lesion for the GOP? Move
back toward the center and woo
those voters who are tired of the ide-
alogues on both ends of the spec-
trum.
That's OK with many traditional
I economic conservatives, a faction that
has considerable appeal for many
Jewish voters. But the social conserv-
atives, led by prominent groups on
the Christian right, think the party
already has diluted its message with
the toxic waters of political pragma-
tism.
Consider recent comments by Dr.
James Dobson, the Evangelical pop
psychologist whose "Focus on the
Family" radio ministry has grown
into a political as well as religious
powerho use.
Most Jews probably never heard of
Dr. Dobson, but ask any House or
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4/17
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