8/14/00 5:45 p.m.
Diversity, Reform-Style
Buchanan might yet cause some mischief.

Robert A. George is an editorial page writer
for the New York Post------------------------------------RAGGEDmail@aol.com

wo weeks ago, this columnist contributed a piece to NRO called "Diversity Uber Alles," making the point that Republicans had completely surrendered to the call of those who insisted that "inclusion" and "diversity" had to be the watchwords of the day. Not only were "people of color" (and a gay congressman) prominently featured at the podium, but Gen. Colin Powell delivered a stinging address criticizing the GOP on race — and trumpeting his support for affirmative action.

The conclusion one might draw is, to quote the Borg, "Resistance is futile; you will be assimilated." Well, if it was hard to believe that after the Republican convention, all skeptics should just leave the room now: Reform Party presidential nominee (one of them — more on that a bit later) Patrick J. Buchanan, a committed opponent of affirmative action, emerged from the raucous party convention with a black running mate — a woman, on top of that: Ezola Foster is a former schoolteacher, a member of the John Birch Society and a strong supporter of Proposition 187 (the measure that restricted various public benefits to illegal immigrants).

Pat and Ezola: Diversity uber alles, indeed. It is particularly ironic that Pat Buchanan would adopt this tack since the GOP convention was, in certain ways, a response to the 1992 Republican event — at which, it is believed, Pat's fiery "cultural war" rhetoric turned off many voters. True, such an analysis is more a figment of the liberal media's imagination (George Bush's poll numbers actually went up immediately after the convention), but that is now the conventional wisdom. And, Buchanan, a rather media-savvy individual, is forced to bow down to the current paradigm.

Buchanan, like Bush and Lieberman, has selected someone who addresses the most glaring holes in his biographical resume. Bush apparently lacked experience; he got Cheney. Gore was tainted by Clinton's moral quicksand; he got Lieberman. Buchanan is perceived as intolerant, and possibly anti-Semitic and racist. Thus, he selects a black woman. This is not to say that this a token pick. Foster is probably as qualified to be vice president as Pat Buchanan is to be president. This is not exactly a quota pick, but it is true that Buchanan had hoped to make an alliance with the left-wing African-American Lenora Fulani. Fulani, though, decided that Buchanan wanted to "hijack" the Reform Party for his own socially conservative agenda, and split several months ago.

Buchanan now has both the ideology and the racial inclusiveness!

Of course, we are talking about the Reform Party here, and they have their own unique way of practicing diversity: Why pick one presidential nominee, when you can get two? The pro-Perot wing of the party has nominated John Hagelin, formerly of the Natural Law Party (this gets confusing after a while). Hagelin often looks like he's campaigning for 10 Downing Street instead of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He doesn't have the accent, but his vocal inflections often sound as if they would be well-suited for "Prime Minister's Questions" in front of Parliament.

The split in the Reform Party may be the best thing that happened to both parties. The theory before had been that with the $12.5 million in federal funds, Buchanan might be able to cause George W. Bush some headaches in a couple of states — even though he is currently only polling in the low single digits. However, the rather sly move of putting Ms. Foster on the ticket could conceivably scramble that analysis. In making Joe Lieberman his running mate, Gore is hoping for a boost in the Jewish vote.

Well, couldn't the selection of a black woman be expected to bring at least a handful of African-American votes toward Pat Buchanan? Ross Perot, by himself, got 7 percent of the black vote in 1992. It's known from the outbursts of recently dismissed Dallas NAACP president Lee Alcorn that there are still awkward fault lines between the black and Jewish communities. Would it not be possible that otherwise-loyal Democratic black voters might be tempted to mark the ballot for Buchanan-Foster — as much out of pride for a black woman running as out of antipathy toward the Democratic ticket?

Were that to happen, Gore could find himself squeezed on both sides: Unreconstructed leftists and various union types could defect to Ralph Nader. Meanwhile, black voters might find a different inspirational figure in Ezola Foster. That's unlikely to happen while Hagelin still challenges Buchanan's legitimacy to run as the Reform Party candidate. But if Pat manages to stamp out the rebellion (ironic that "Pitchfork Pat" is facing rebellion in the ranks of "his" party) and lay claim to the $12.5 million, he and Ezola might yet cause some waves this fall.