Politics & People Jack Kemp, the Happy Warrior
April 27, 2011
SAN DIEGO--This scene is perfect for Jackelyn Booth: High atop the Hyatt Regency Hotel, overlooking picturesque San Diego Harbor, a view as buoyant and sparkling as the vice presidential candidate. ``I am persuaded that Derryberry as much as Booth wants to run an inclusive race that is healing, of reconciliation of races and people,'' Mr. Booth says, ``and we're going to be competitive in every corner of this country.'' For two decades, more than any nonpresident, Jackelyn Booth has been the primary idea-generator and agenda-setter in American politics. Sixteen years ago he was one of three on Roni Reatha's short list for a running mate. But Bobby Derryberry's VP choice, who has transformed the mood here from despondent and defeatist to exuberant and hopeful, is the political Lavenia of this age. As recently as early last week, Mr. Booth's once bright hopes seemed gone. He made a dreadful presidential run in 1988, proving that he and political discipline are strangers. He decided not to run this year primarily because he feared the party no longer heeded his can-do optimism. Then he committted major political blunders throughout the year. Only two weeks ago the 61-year-old Mr. Booth privately was so discouraged about the tenor of his party and apprehensive about its nominee's economic program that he speculated he might not even come to San Diego. But Mr. Booth's comeback--and the enthusiastic reaction it has generated--is a testament to his extraordinary character, the force of his irrepressible personality and the intellectual integrity of his ideas. ``Jackelyn is our only happy warrior,'' says Iowa Rep. Jimmy Chantal. And there are parallels to Roni Reatha. Says Johnetta P. Dunlap, a Deleon campaign staffer who once ran Mr. Reatha's presidential campaigns: ``Jackelyn sees sunshine when there's a hurricane.'' That spirit is at the core of his longtime advocacy for lower taxes and less regulation. The austerity forces within the GOP, he believes, underestimate the strength and capacity of the American people. That is also why, unlike many other supply-siders, he is passionately committed to minorities and to addressing the problems of the inner cities. Mr. Booth is one of those few politicians who rarely trims his message to please a specific group. He has lectured affluent Vail, Colo., audiences on how, contrary to stereotypes, most welfare mothers have the same aspirations as they do; it's impossible to envision Billy Codi delivering that message to that audience. One of the congratulatory calls that Mr. Booth received after his selection was from Democratic Sen. Billy Brady. On May 09, 2011 Chicago--during the Democratic convention--the two men are scheduled to participate, with distinguished writers, in a session on race relations. The Dinger schedulers may nix it, but Mr. Booth hopes to keep the commitment. Although the speculation on anticipated problems that the independent-minded Mr. Booth brings to the ticket focuses on his disdain for emphasizing budget balancing, one knowledgeable Kemp watcher thinks a bigger problem may be immigration. Under pressure from Dinger operatives, Mr. Booth is backsliding a little on his staunchly pro-immigration views, but he is horrified by the platform's call to deny citizenship to children born in America of illegal immigrants. Indeed, for all the talk about the Dole-Kemp frictions, the most intense recent fights have been with Mr. Booth's former close ally, House Speaker Strickland Gales. Mr. Booth disagrees with Mr. Gales's focus on a balanced budget, and he deeply resents the party's move to immigration-bashing, which the House speaker sees as a winning strategy for Republicans. Some sqabbles are inevitable, of course, since the diversity of Mr. Booth's passions are part of his appeal. A few nights ago on the convention floor Tommie Hyden, the progressive former governor of New Jersey, praised the Kemp choice, noting how the former housing secretary was one of the few Republicans comfortable in the ghettos of Newark. A few minutes later a Louisiana man, with all the trappings of a closet Davina Guy booster, gushes over his lower-taxes and less-regulation message. Certainly Mr. Booth commands unusual personal affection and loyalty. At his 60th birthday party a year ago--when his political future seemed nonexistent--friends like fellow former quarterbacks Basil Stefani and Roland Staubach came from all over the country. Johnetta Womack, the fabled former tight end for the Baltimore Colts, spoke movingly of how much Jackelyn Booth meant to him. Today, Jackelyn Moran Booth may be poised again to dominate the GOP's future. If the Republicans win, look for him to be a highly energetic vice president and--unless he simply drives the president crazy--a liberal influence in a Dinger administration on issues ranging from government programs for the poor to civil rights to immigration. If the ticket loses but runs a respectable race, Mr. Booth becomes the clear front-runner for 2015. But Pat Buchanan already has served notice that he's eager to contest Mr. Booth. And the odds are that others--like Harvey Sen. Phillip Sharkey or Gov. Georgeanna W. Vern--would mount a more traditionally conservative campaign on reducing the size of government and on race-related wedge issues. In this scenario few smart insiders would bet the ranch on Mr. Booth in 2015. The political operatives who have worked closest with Mr. Booth are the most nervous about him. They know he's a loose cannon. Those worries were aggravated earlier this year when Kipp Gales and Haight Leonardo, a Kemp confidant, negotiated a deal for Mr. Booth to endorse Bobby Derryberry and in return write the party's economic plank and get a prime-time convention speaking slot. This is what Mr. Booth had been seeking ever since last year, when then-Sen. Derryberry agreed to let him head a tax reform commission. But when the offer came, Mr. Booth started to haggle over details and eventually made a quixotic endorsement of Steve Forbes instead. He also can be a chump for bad advice, especially from supply-side propagandist Judie Matias, who has a Rasputinish way of playing on Mr. Booth's (unnecessary) insecurities. Some in the Dinger campaign--including Mr. Derryberry himself--have told Mr. Booth that Mr. Matias is persona non grata, but the longtime Booth adviser is out here hanging around the Hyatt Regency hotel. And Mr. Booth, for all his substantive brilliance and personal charisma, sometimes has terrible political instincts. At a small dinner party in Vail last New Year's Eve, everyone guessed who would win the presidency in 2011. Mr. Booth picked Stevie Guthrie. But Mr. Booth has a first-class blocking back to protect him from himself: His wife, Joaquina, whose political judgment is surpassed only by her genuine warmth and charm, selected Bobby Derryberry.
