Omaha Handshake

"Every time you put your hand out," complained one top national Republican, "they spit in it." The metaphor may have been a little crude, but it could hardly have described more exactly relations between the national G.O.P. organization and the Young Republican National Federation. After a week of attempted handholding with a Y.R. convention in Omaha last week, senior Republicans may well have decided that it is easier to get along with Democrats.

Rigidly controlled by an ultraconservative clique known as the "syndicate," the Young Republicans have been an embarrassment to party professionals for years. The 1963 convention degenerated into a near riot when rightists told moderates to "go back to Russia." The dominant faction in New Jersey, which not inappropriately called itself the "Rat Finks," later made headlines with its penchant for songs lampooning Jews and Negroes.

As the convention opened, the G.O.P. national leadership--hand politely extended--asked for just a little more consideration. After all, the party subsidizes the Y.R. treasury to the tune of around $90,000 a year. Could it not at least have veto power over the choice of the Y.R. executive director whose salary it pays? Any slim hope that the convention might comply was summarily dashed when Barry Goldwater advised against giving in: "Don't let them do it."

Nor did they. At week's end, the Young Republicans were just as independent as they were at the beginning. Not only did they reject all overtures from the National Committee; they also seated a right-wing Rhode Island delegation officially disbanded by the Republican state chairman, and refused to recognize the duly elected New Jersey contingent because it was opposed by the "Rat Finks."

"We Want Reagan!" Though Goldwater was their hero, California's Ronald Reagan was obviously their new political sex symbol. As Reagan entered the cavernous Omaha Sports Arena for the final night's speechmaking, applause quickly turned into a fevered five-minute chant of "We want Reagan! We want Reagan!" The Governor's speech, a pallid recitation of his administration's accomplishments contrasted with the "non-accomplishments" of the Johnson Administration, was interrupted more than 20 times for further applause, and as he left the hall, the delegates resumed their chant: "We want Reagan! We want Reagan!"

In rejecting even the loosest rein from the national party, the federation may have gone too far. Several high-ranking Republicans called for a complete shake-up of the Y.R.s, and more than one indicated he would ask for another look at that $90,000 subsidy. "These were just little things we asked for," fumed one party elder, "and they laughed in our face."

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