No Consensus

Though they are of different generations, and eons apart in temperament and style, Everett McKinley Dirksen, 71, and Gerald Ford, 53, have one big thing going for them: they are both devoted to the Republican Party. Even that, however, is not always a tie that binds when it comes to opposing the Johnson Administration--as both stars showed only too well, or too dimly, in the course of their second annual G.O.P. "State of the Union" message last week.

The difference was one of emphasis rather than substance, for the two Republican leaders, speaking to an enthusiastic G.O.P. gathering in the elegant Old Senate Chamber, tidily compartmentalized their labors. Ford addressed himself to domestic concerns, Dirksen to foreign relations. They had asked for TV time equal to the exposure accorded the President for his own State of the Union message (75 minutes), but received exactly one half hour from the few commercial channels that consented to carry them.

Poverty of Ideas. In a speech as skippingly alliterative as a Swinburne ode, Ford bravely promised "sensible solutions for the '70s," but seemed considerably more enthusiastic at the prospect of demolishing existing Administration solutions. He derided President Johnson for resuscitating "tired theories of the '30s," ignoring "positive and practical Republican programs," and creating the credibility gap. Demanding "total revamping" of the poverty program, he said: "The greatest poverty in this country today is the poverty of realistic ideas among poverty war generals--and Sargents."

The House minority leader promised a major effort to push through the Republican tax-sharing plan--first proposed by Kennedy Economic Adviser Walter Heller--which would return a fixed percentage of federal personal income tax revenue to the states. He also recommended immediate restoration of the business investment tax credit, temporarily repealed at the last session, to help erase what he described as "ominous signs of an economic slowdown."

Cassandra's Cloak. Dirksen, for his part, found few components of Administration foreign policy to his liking, but fully endorsed its great overriding concern, the U.S. commitment to Viet Nam. Quoting from L.BJ.'s own State of the Union address, the Senate minority leader somewhat blunted Ford's reference to the credibility gap with applause for Johnson's "realistic and candid" assessment of the big price that must yet be paid if the U.S. is to achieve its aims in Viet Nam. His only quibble --a punctilious bow to his role as opposition leader--was that the Administration should be looking to the outlines of the peace that must eventually come in Viet Nam. "Foresight," he said, "is the essence of leadership. We stand in need of it as never before." After supporting the President on Viet Nam, Dirksen donned Cassandra's cloak to denounce the Administration's "bridge-building" plans for close relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

Neither speech suggested any clear battle plan for the Republicans on Capitol Hill. Both, moreover, seemed oddly at contrast, in spirit and specifics, with the creative pragmatism expressed by young G.O.P. freshman Senators who have taken positions, as well as seats, in Washington. Dirksen, who had risen at 4:30 a.m. to gild his rococo verbiage, never found the time--or need--to consult anyone but himself. "I've tried that consultation business," he said, "and I find it takes a year to get a consensus. The devil with that. If they want to try me for party deviation, they can."

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