European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 28, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday october 28,1991 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary Stephen s. Rosenfeld Gap closes Between foreign Domestic issues taxes economic policy Relief for the hard hit anxiety about where the country is heading a Sharp turn of focus from foreign to Domestic concerns is evident in Washington. It represents not just the approach of a political season or a swing of the pendulum it a recognition that the cold War is Over at last. It is As though the International changes dramatized by the sundering of the Berlin Wall just two years ago Are finally achieving full valuation in the american political marketplace. President Bush the latest Washington Post Abc news poll shows can no longer count on easy reflection on the basis of his adept Ness in foreign policy alone. To judge by tax proposal of sen. Lloyd Bentsen a Texas the bars against using the defense budget to finance other projects Are dropping fast. Whether All this will produce the desired renewal is of course still conjectural. It is too simple to say that president Bush has been neglecting Domestic cares for the International High life and that if he remedies that fault it will be morning in it America again. The issues Are vexing and he faces a Range of gop political disabilities and inhibitions that rank right up there in Potency with those that afflict congressional democrats. As our Domestic debate moves to catch up to our Domestic problems others will be paying close attention. Already we have our own Middle Burner discussion on whether we Are or should be a coming  abroad this discussion is becoming a quietly anxious inquiry into whether the United states is going  the relatively few american voices that urge that course carry loud across the water. Many of our foreign friends have built a Large american global role into their policies and nerve endings. They Are aware that the ending of the cold War has brought Relief on the soviet front but they have gotten habituated to reassurance on the american front. Signs of military political and psychological retrenchment leave them not panicked but uneasy unsure. The last time the United states headed in that direction toward the end of the Vietnam War in the 1970s, it was failure that led Many americans and interested foreigners to wonder whether the country was opting out. This time As the cold War ebbs it is Success that sets Domestic and International choruses buzzing. To some this suggests that the american global Kevin Phillips Matfus m critics Are tit it m skip meow ofom Ems 014 ti0mwm9 0 of Back War of f engagement of the last half Century was a historical Accident something that could yet go into reverse. Ridiculous. The �?T90s Are not the �?T70s. Now the communist world is mostly shattered and the free world has Rich assets in resources and ideas. Nor Are the �?T90s the �?T30s, the time of an authentic and truly costly american isolationism that still casts a Shadow across Many Peoples minds. Now the United states is fully a part of the world bound by institutions and interests that simply did not exist in earlier times. The institutions include the International networks of the United nations and the regional connections like nato and the european Community. The interests Are those spun by growing interdependence in the Economy communications Security travel the environment drugs and other Fields. The persian Gulf War was a striking example of the new interdependence. The spectacle of a hungry marauder on the prowl in the Oil heartland galvanized the United states into a huge internationally supported intervention. A we will not Retreat into isolationism Quot Bush insists. The More reliable and steady source of engagement remains the american involvement in what is the economists Tell us an inescapable world Economy. It is so that the collapse of communism May encourage More open economic rivalry among formerly watertight allies. But the collapse of communism also forces the Alliance Leader to look beyond military and political roles to serve its citizens Well. There a plenty of work left to do in the world. But a a a Domestic Agenda entering on restoring economic and social competence moves relentlessly to the leading Edge of american a a foreign policy. C the Washington pos american conservatism walking a Tightrope no sooner had Clarence Thomas bloody supreme court confirmation Victory thrilled gop strategists when sex nazi David Dukes Strong primary showing in Louisiana sent them reaching for the maalox. There a a lesson Here for republicans and democrats alike . Conservatism is not just on a Roll a its walking a Tightrope. Conventional Wisdom tends to emphasize the democratic oppositions vegetable like Quality. But it is Worth underscoring the rightward thrust of october a two big political events first the confirmation of a Black conservative who built 70 percent approval Levels among Blacks by accusing White liberals and civil rights groups of trying to a a Lynch him. It is probably the first time Jesse Helms and Louis Farrakhan cheered together. A week later came the stunning emergence of Duke former Neo nazi and Kun flux klan Imperial wizard As the gop candidate for Louisiana a governor. Duke who helped blow out candles at Hitler birthday parties Well into the 1980s, beat the incumbent Republican governor in an open primary and now aces Democrat Edwin w. Edwards in november. Duke told reporters his heart went out to Thomas a they were attacked by Many of the same people. . Cultural politics have swung sharply rightward implicitly repudiating groups like the National organization for women and the leadership conference on civil rights. The problem for the gop is that its a dangerous Triumph. Like the liberals of 1964 a in the Wake of Barry m. Goldwater a debacle a the gop is in a position to go farther than t the Public wants. The Bush White House would have been better off with a much less conservative result. If moderate pro abortion rights gov. Charles a buddy Roemer a former Democrat had won the gop would have had its first governor of Louisiana and Duke would not be pushing toward National politics. And if Thomas had been rejected the gop would have a political Martyr a much As the two Southern nominees rejected by the Senate 20 years ago were repackaged As martyrs and so helped Richard m. Nixon realign Dixie. What Bush has instead is a supreme court Justice who could be at the mercy of unexpected statements from unexpected witnesses and a conservative court that might Start handing Down unpopular decisions in time for the 1992 elections. That a because the conservative tide did Roll and its not hard to explain Why. In the last 25 years cultural liberalism became a caricature of itself a with dreamy feminists calling for third parties Prissy new England governors furlough ing hardened criminals aging civil rights leaders unable to redefine unworkable goals and leftist College professors accusing Christopher Columbus of hemispheric genocide. Leaping on such weaknesses attack dog conservatism routed liberalism like a pack of wolves overrunning a Kennel of poodles. Nonetheless because even the dullest liberals might finally be learning from their mistakes and because americans have a Long record of making smart decisions when . Politics reaches a critical stage the explosiveness we Are now see ing in elections will yield a major political watershed later this decade. Often As in 1928 and 1964, the about to fade ideology in Power appears strongest just As it is developing the constituency strains and excesses that will pull it apart. Thomas and Duke Are both relevant and both parties will be affected. Lets begin with the democrats whose ineptitude of 1991 a from the persian Gulf to the Thomas hearings with occasional detours for things like congressional Check bouncing a have pushed even vice president Dan Quayle off the late night to mockery circuit. Although the supreme court fight strengthened the party a image of subservience to feminist and civil rights groups because democrats handled the Thomas matter so poorly they Are now under attack from these same groups. The democratic coalition is suffering strains now wants to Start a third party with Black conservatives multiplying democrats could lose 20 to 25 percent of Blacks to the gop. Democratic voter identification has been falling. What s less understood is the growing Catalon of gop problems. Gop senatorial inquisitors also earned negative ratings in the Thomas hearings parading a belligerence that suggested Why the party has Little Domestic policy beyond electric chairs and Bank bailouts. Gender May still emerge As a problem a while a majority of women did support Thomas their political consciousness seems to be rising. Their anger could aggravate the Gopas 1992 internal divisions on abortion. The prime embarrassment of course is Dukes status As the first modern gop candidate for governor who is an cd Kkt Leader and sex nazi. The White houses dismissal technically Correct because Louisiana has a non party primary is to say Duke is not a gop nominee so they Don t have to Deal with him. But that a a cop out. Bush does no to want to Campaign against him for three reasons first what Duke is saying sounds a lot like what Bush says second most Louisiana republicans a and probably a majority of All Whites a will vote for Duke Over Edwards third if Bush provokes Duke it will increase the likelihood that he will oppose Bush in several 1992 Southern primaries a or even run for president As an Independent. To divert attention from the Thomas encounter moreover democrats seem to be intensifying their attack on Bush for the weak Economy. Recession economics and favouritism to the Rich Are a gop Achilles Heel. If wounds suffered by democrats in the Thomas fight motivated them to reply in kind Over the Economy the gop could find it a bad Trade. Whatever happens to the Economy these would be reasons for the gop to worry a too conservative supreme court provoking centrist swing voters a political movement of angry women and Duke leading a a Bubba voters out of the gop presidential coalition barely a generation after they came in. On the other hand even if the gop faces its first serious divisive threat from the right there a still another question can the democrats emerge trom the Mummy of american liberalism to take advantage of the Opportunity c the los Angelos times