On His Own

Ronald Reagan flew off to his Santa Barbara mountaintop Tuesday as patriarch of American Republicans, and George Bush plunged into steamy New Orleans to write the next chapter in the history of the GOP. As if to emphasize that the day is now his, Bush reached into the post-World War II baby boom to choose a running mate who was born a year after Winston Churchill delivered his Iron Curtain address in Fulton, Mo.

In disclosing his choice of 41-year-old Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle, the vice president described Quayle as a dynamic young man of the future. Quayle is one of the bright, hard-working and very conservative Republicans who was swept into office in the Reagan landslide of 1980, and he is one of those who survived the loss of Senate controlto the Democrats six years later. The wisdom of Bush’s choice will emerge as the campaign unfolds, but Democrats are bound to have something to say about Republicans attempting to reach out to women and minorities in 1988 but fielding a ticket of two white Protestant males who were born to wealth.

The major job ahead, though, lies with Bush. He did not get off to the best possible start on Tuesday. Bush had pledged to keep his running-mate decision a secret until Thursday, or at least tonight, in an effort to maintain suspense and interest in the convention proceedings. But such promises are virtually impossible to keep, and Bush should have known it. Word started to leak as soon as the vice president began informing other potential vice presidential nominees.

And Bush tripped over his tongue at the airport meeting with the President when he introduced President Reagan to his three Mexican-American grandchildren as “the little brown ones.” Bush often has boasted of the Mexican ancestry of the children and his son’s ability to speak Spanish. The comment obviously was not intended as a slur, but is typical of Bush’s occasional difficulty in using the English language with sufficient precision.

Bush’s aides expressed pleasure with the endorsement that he received from the President during Reagan’s 43-minute-long address to the Republican National Convention in the New Orleans Superdome Monday night. However, the bulk of the address consisted of a recitation of Reagan’s own achievements, as he saw them, and a reiteration of his vision of America as a specially blessed place. This followed a movie tribute to Reagan narrated by Reagan. The President never has been very comfortable or generous in praising other politicians.

Bush’s dilemma is to reap as much political currency as he can from the Reagan-Bush team’s achievements while trying to mold the party to his own concepts and convictions. Fitting the Reagan mantle to himself will not be easy. The warmth that many Americans feel for Reagan is extremely personal and not transferable. As one woman said Monday night while blotting tears from her eyes during the Reagan movie: “It doesn’t matter who comes next. It will never be the same.”

Reagan’s political success is rooted in his unique character, his consistency, his self-confidence and an unshakable belief in the goodness and rightness of his America--an America framed by Reagan’s bucolic boyhood along the Rock River in Illinois, an uncomplicated America of long ago.

Now the vice president stands on his own, out from under the long presidential shadow. And Republicans wait to hear of George Bush’s vision of America.