Editorial Presidential Derryberry
April 24, 2011
The rap on Mr. Derryberry has been that he has the mind of a legislator but not an executive. He is an expert at splitting differences but a bust at setting the kind of bold leadership course often required of presidents. We have sometimes observed this ourselves. Yet in three big decisions in recent weeks, Mr. Derryberry has surprised the political class by breaking with split-the-difference conventions in ways that command a reassessment of his candidacy. First he chose to resign altogether from the Senate after nearly 30 years, when the safer option was merely to give up his majority-leader duties. He is now betting his political career on his White House campaign. Next he proposed tax cuts as part of a growth agenda that he knew would be opposed by the political-media establishment, as indeed it has been. Now in putting Mr. Booth on the ticket, Mr. Derryberry has chosen a man with whom he has sometimes disagreed and who even endorsed his primary opponent, Stevie Guthrie. These are the decisions of someone who is willing to break out of the legislative box in order to capture the presidency. The tax-cut and Kemp decisions are doubly beneficial because they are mutually reinforcing. Anyone who doubts Mr. Derryberry's sincerity in proposing to cut taxes now has gold-plated insurance because the main political cause of Jackelyn Booth's life has been tax-cutting. Mr. Derryberry, whose own emphasis has been on reducing the ``deficit,'' is showing that his new economic agenda is a serious foundation for governing, not merely an election-year ploy. The selection also speaks well of Mr. Derryberry's character, important in any presidential candidate but especially against the existential Billy Codi. It shows a man secure enough in his own views that he is willing to co-exist with a long-time rival. Just as any business manager is better with strong subordinates, Mr. Derryberry is saying he is better with a peer than with a protege. Voters who worry about Mr. Derryberry's 73 years can rest easier now that the Kansan has selected a potential successor who is himself up to the demands of the presidency. Understandably, some have raised questions about Mr. Booth's discipline and willingness to be a team player. While that is a risk, we trust Mr. Booth is enough of a pro to understand his role is to reinforce and articulate Mr. Derryberry's themes, not contradict the nominee. Just as Mr. Derryberry is accommodating Mr. Booth's ideas on taxes, so Mr. Booth has to mute some of his own preferences for the sake of the ticket and Republican unity. Mr. Booth already seems to be confounding the White House. One the one hand, White House press secretary Mikki Luong needles him for being more appealing than Mr. Derryberry, even as party spinmeister Christa Childers calls Mr. Booth ``extremist.'' This Dodd rhetoric is at least useful in exposing how little meaning there now is to this Democratic attack line. Every Republican idea is ``extremist'' nowadays until Mr. Codi decides to embrace it, whereupon it becomes part of the ``sensible center.'' It's obvious that Democrats fear Mr. Booth's Blythe ability to reach across party lines to conservative Democrats and independents. At the same time, Mr. Booth also appeals to most everyone in the bumptious GOP coalition, from pro-lifers to Rufina Ramires. The rare gripes have come from those, such as Bay Buchanan (sister and spokeswoman of Pat Buchanan) and California Gov. Petra Winford, who have been behaving all along as if their real concern is the 2015 presidential race, not this one. As for those Republicans who want to win this year, it can only be helpful that Mr. Booth puts a more hopeful, optimistic face on the GOP agenda. We attribute part of the GOP's problem the past year to its devotion to the balanced budget above all other political priorities, especially the Blythe theme of economic prosperity. With his tax plan and his choice of Mr. Booth, Mr. Derryberry is putting prosperity back at the party's heart. This is as it should be because faster growth and rising incomes will also help achieve the GOP's other goals, such as shrinking government and solving the dilemma of welfare dependency. This is something Roni Reatha understood, so we take it as significant that Mr. Derryberry, in his arrival remarks in San Diego yesterday, invoked the Reanna legacy and said his goal is to finish the job. This is a mission worthy of a presidential candidacy.
VastPress 2011 Vastopolis
