FREEDOM WATCH By BOB WARD, Editor of the Texas 


Journal  April 18, 1996 





It's Bob Dole -- Get Used to It





   It's hard to get enthusiastic about Bob Dole but that 


doesn't have to  matter.  The majority leader is in his 


seventies.  He's been through a lot and might even consider 


enthusiasm embarrassing at this stage of his life.     


   And -- more to the point -- Bob Dole does have a spotty 


voting record.  He's supported too many tax increases, at 


one time he was known as the senator from the IRS.  He 


voted to increase the minimum wage which he now is 


somewhat opposed to. And in 1984 Rep. Newt Gingrich did 


urge the GOP to write a "Dole-proof" platform plank 


opposing tax hikes.     But given all that, rummaging around 


in the past of a politician who has served as long as Dole has 


is of limited value.  Times change and, ironically, what is 


touted as Dole's greatest weakness may be his most 


important asset.  Since Dole has been criticized for being too 


eager to accommodate, to ready to go along, he may be just 


the guy to have in the White House when there is a 


Republican majority -- with a generous portion of 


conservatives -- in the Congress. 





Cooperate With GOP Congress





   Dole is not Jesse Helms, that's true, but he isn't Lowell 


Weicker either.  He is not going to thumb his nose at his 


party in order to advance a high-tax policy.  One columnist 


observed Dole is experienced and he knows how to get the 


job done and Newt Gingrich will tell him what the job is.  


That's too glib but the essential point is valid.  The long list 


of good legislation vetoed by Bill Clinton provides a clue to 


why Bob Dole deserves the support -- if not the adulation -- 


of citizens concerned about taxes, defense, welfare reform 


and a host of other issues.  Tax cuts to benefit the family 


and spur the economy, effective welfare reform and numer-


ous spending reductions fell victim to Bill Clinton's veto pen. 


Had Dole been in the White House most of the Contract 


With America would already be law.


   Speaker Gingrich has made the point that in normal times, 


particularly when the nation is not at war, it is the Congress 


that sets the tone and actually governs the nation. The 


Constitution defines the president's main duties as running 


the military and carrying out the laws passed by the 


Congress.  Because of Cold War expediencies, much of the 


energy and initiative shifted to the White House. With the 


Cold War won, the time has come to shift the focus back to 


the Congress, and Bob Dole is the ideal person to preside 


over that shift.


   The fact is that the decades marked by an aggressive 


executive branch headed by presidents with "vision" have 


brought enormous expansions of government power and loss 


of individual liberties. A good case could be made that the 


nation is overdue for a revitalization of the representative 


branch of the government.  


   And Dole won't give us the likes of Joycelyn Elders.