Sticking by Their Man

Despite New Right carping, most conservatives still like Reagan

Ronald Reagan is the most conservative President elected since Ronald Reagan could vote. Still, his Administration's policies have often turned out not so conservative as his opponents on the left had feared. Or, conversely, as the volatile far right had giddily hoped. "Reagan," declares Howard Phillips, head of the New Right's Conservative Caucus, "is a total disaster."

Phillips, along with Richard Viguerie, publisher of the Conservative Digest, and a few other right-wingers have been hinting that they will oppose Reagan's reelection. But if last week's Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington was any guide, they may be leading a rebellion that has few followers. The President, in a speech Friday to the 1,400 participants, wowed his philosophical comrades: they applauded 40 times in 30 minutes. According to an earlier survey of the assembled activists, 75% believe that Reagan is doing a "good" or "excellent" job. Republican Congressman Mickey Edwards of Oklahoma, chairman of the American Conservative Union, a conference sponsor, says: "Conservatives are generally still very supportive of the President."

New Right leaders, however, are peeved that most of Reagan's appointments have been mainstream Republicans. Declares Viguerie: "It's been the Wall Street and country club Republicans running this Administration. Conservatism has not even been tried." They are also angry that not a single item on their legislative agenda has passed Congress. Reagan keeps reiterating his sympathy for their positions on "social issues"--against abortion, against busing to achieve integration, in favor of organized prayer in public schools--but he has not put the weight of his Administration behind any New Right legislation. Peter Gemma, executive director of the National Pro-Life Political Action Committee, despairs that Reagan "has been great on symbolism and excruciatingly slow on action."

Thus has Reagan been able to mollify the conservative rank and file, even while he governs pragmatically. His new, more conciliatory posture toward the Democrats, manifested most recently in his support for a "bipartisan" jobs bill, has undone the New Rightists. "He is seeking accommodation," Phillips says accusatorially, "with the Washington Establishment!" Viguerie darkly refers to Reagan's "strong turn to the left."

The stepped-up criticism is attributable both to the movement's temperamental righteousness and to its political immaturity. "Their power mode," says a top Republican strategist, "is not properly adjusted to governing. They are better at Molotov cocktailing." Moreover, New Right fund raisers have a professional stake in continuing conservative discontent. Says a White House aide: "Viguerie and company must keep their mailing lists activated through fear."

The White House is annoyed but not especially worried by the thunder on the far right. "When are they going to elect a more conservative President than Ronald Reagan in this century?" asks Presidential Assistant Michael Deaver. "Never." As for Phillips, Viguerie and the rest, Deaver has run out of fraternal feeling. "Screw 'em," he says, "and you can quote me." The President is far more politic but knows that his zealous conservative constituents need him more than he needs them. The 1982 elections, in which the National Conservative Political Action Committee spent $4.5 million but had scant influence, produced a moderate Congress. To govern, Reagan must deal with Congress, not with the right. "We're not such a great majority in the world," he told the conservative magazine Human Events last week, "that we can be giving ourselves political saliva tests all the time." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.