Evening star., 1936-04-20
G:'Q.P.LEADERSH|P
HELD INTELLECTUAL
Possibility of Victory Seen
Weakened by Stand.Pat
Attitude.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

-. BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
With less than so days between now
and the national political conventions,
and about six months to election day.
q candid appraisal Of the political
outlook would seem to indicate there
are two fundamental questions in the
minds of most people who throughout
the length and breadth Of the land are
discussing politics. These are:
1. Can Mr. Roosevelt be defeated?
The. emphasis is on the word can.
2: Will Mr.. Roosevelt be defeated?
The emphasis is on the word will"
Taking the first question-can Mr..
Roosevelt be defeated?-this corre-
spondent would answer "yes," on the
theory the Literary Digest poll showed
oonclusively there are more people
in the United States opposed to the
Roosevelt policies than IN favor OF
them. While he lapse Of few weeks
since the poll was taken has led many
observers to say Mr.. Roosevelt's stock
has risen, there has been no such ma
teral change in administration pol
icies as to warrant the belief that the
voters in the Digest poll have changed
their minds.
COP. Leadership Blind"
. Much more plausible is the comment
that there has been distinct down.
ward curve in the opposition" not
only because of the bitter battles be-
tween candidates in pre-convention
primaries, but because the Republican
party leadership has shown itself blind
to the exigencies of an extraordinary
political year.
The principal difficulty of course. is
that the Republican leaders have COM
pleteiy ignored the fact they are not
the only opposition" and indeed have
by their ineptitude convinced many
Democrats that the hope Of the coun-
try for an organized opposition to the
New Deal no longer lies in the So
called Republican leadership.
The simple proposition that DEM
,ocrat who is dissatisfied with the New
Deal must vote for the prospective
Republican candidate has for several
months given the Republicans an over
confidence that they would acquire the
,,anti-New Deal vote anyhow, even
while maintaining their stand-pat ira
.ditions. To this extent the Digest
poll made the Republicans unduly op-
timistic.
Today the disillusionment is coming
gradually but surely. Party pri-
rnaries and the total votes cast are
showing that while the Republican
party has large nucleus of votes, 1t
does not, on the other hand. possess
sufacient magnetism to attract new
voters or the old voters of the in
dependent kind. If the Republican
platform were written tomorrow, it
would be full of antiquities, carrying
water on both shoulders, and more or
less condoning, for example, the high
tariff crimes and Grass materialism
which have been so characteristic OF
Republican platforms of the past.
Speeches Lack Appeal.
aFhere is as yet nothing of the hu-
manitarian, nothing of the progressive
or penetratingly sympathetic appeal
in Republican speeches or declarations
which shows a grasp of the problems
of the underdog or of the true causes
of unemployment. The Democratic
cry for a better share of hfe's benefits
for the average man has not been
met full square with a program that
Will mean more Unemployment and
shigher standard of living.
Basically, it Is the writer's convic-
ton that coalition of all persons who
oppose the New Deal can defeat Mr..
Roosevelt, but not altogether because
of the mistakes of commission by the
Democratic party, but because of its
mistakes of omission-its failure to let
the economic system of America func-
tion, so that 100000 persons can
get the jobs they have waited three
long years to get.
.sAll this requires a reorganized party
Of opposition and constructive alter
natives, party in which Democrats
aud Republicans stand on basis OF
equality. If there is to be a merger
of Independent Democrats and Repub-
licans, it would seem logical that such
q merger be consummated on the basis
Of equals in their own right, rather
than by an ignominous retreat of
lberal-minded bloc into the arms of
q party OF reaction and standpatism.
This, at my rate, is the spirit of the
Independent Democrats who have no
more love for the Liberty League than
they have for the New Dealers, but
who know that much Of the hypocrisy
ara bunk being recited by the New
Dealers about campaign contributions
and "entrenched greed" Is transpar-
emily for political effect, and that un-
der the skin the two major parties are
brethren, both supported by the
noneyed interests of the country be-
cause their stake in economic recovery
Is at bottom non-political.
Defeat Now Unlikely.
The answer to the second question
will Mr.. Roosevelt be defeated?-is
ut this writing mo-" The principal
reason for saying so is that the Re-
publican party leaders think they have
asrnonopoly of the opposition to the
New Deal, and are conducting them
selves on the mistaken theory that
they have enough votes to win anyhow.
They have not taken the necessary
steps to win the independent Demo-
Gratis, and it begins to look as If they
never will this year.
1.-THE average disinterested observer
Is out of sympathy with the Repub-
lican strategy.
The Democratic State and local Or
ganzations. Of course. have been cap
italiEing politically the .favors and
subSdies handed out with many bill
licfs of dollars Of taxpayers money in
ths daSt three years. It Is wrong to