Too many cooks can spoil the stew.
It's an old phrase with modern implications that, if not heeded, may lead to the self-destruction of the Republican legislative agenda.
Yesterday on "This Week with David Brinkley" Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said he may be taking so much criticism because he says "too much" and too much is being said about too little. One needs only look at the increasing, but still dismal, approval rating of President Clinton to find some validity in this remark.
Clinton has stayed away from the media lately. He has allowed his attack dogs on Capitol Hill to fight his fight for him so he won't be connected.
This would justify a Time-CNN poll released Saturday that put Gingrich's disapproval rating at 47 percent, although 58 percent rated the job performance of the Republican Congress as "good" or "very good." Gingrich has become the target of people's frustrations because he says too much.
He, along with other Republicans, should stick to the facts. If no one gets upset over the temper tantrums the Democrats are throwing, they will have to move on to another issue and eventually they'll just be ignored completely as people begin to see the results of what they voted for last November.
The less Clinton says, the less he appears in public and the less he accomplishes or takes credit for - the more people like him. The reason is that seeing him reminds people why they don't like him. This possibility, suggested by columnist George Will, makes sense.
When looking at the Republican "Contract With America," too many people speaking could ruin a good thing and clutter the truth with misconceptions. When too many people attempt to either attack an issue or take credit for it, the real message is lost to rhetoric and self-interest.
Take for instance the school lunch program.
It is a fact the Republican plan would increase the amount of money given to the states for school lunches. The only difference is that it will be given to them in the form of block grants versus a mandated purpose so states that don't need the money for school lunches can use it for something else.
Now that the school lunch reform measure is being sent to the Senate, the plan, which is actually very meritorious, may be revised and ruined because of lies that have replaced truth.
In other words, those who would have benefited will no longer do so.
If the GOP party tent gets too big, it's inevitably going to collapse. The Republicans won control of the House and Senate by ignoring the opposition and excluding certain unpopular opinions.
They plowed over those whose opinions were in the minority, but often perceived to be stronger than they really are. (See the former Congressional Black Caucus or anyone who is homosexual for proof of this.)
This tactic must be followed again in the presidential race, or lies like those associated with the school lunch program will spoil the stew. Republicans should just shut up and let the Democrats ramble about them being mean-spirited and uncaring. The truth will shine through in the end when the facts speak.
Americans are not stupid, much unlike Rep. David Bonior, D-Michigan, and his made-up ideas about class warfare. Americans know Republicans aren't going to take away food from starving children or throw newborn babies on the street. While many, mainly those unpopular and disgruntled people, would have you believe this, it is not so.
Ask people like Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, father of seven, if he hates children. Ask people like Sen. Olympia Snow, R-Maine, if she is out to return herself and other women to the days of silence and complacency?
Ask Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Oklahoma, who happens to be black, if he wants to suppress his own race back into chains and ignore his past?
The truth is clear, but lies can very easily begin to take the form of the truth. While the sad truth is that leaders like Gingrich may take a bad rap for a good thing, he should continue to be the spokesman for the truth and not allow others to muddle the true Republican agenda with presidential soundbites and Democratic lies.
Too many cooks can not only ruin the stew, but may change the recipe forever. We cannot allow that to happen with the GOP reforms for which people voted.
Staff Columnist Joe Braun is a political science senior.
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