Republicans are sounding an uncertain trumpet on what some see as President Clinton's assault on family values, even as social liberals and conservatives take up sides in what Pat Buchanan calls the "cultural wars." Showing a range of attitudes, from extreme caution to virtually complete avoidance of the values issue, are the party's national chairman, Haley Barbour, and three leading 1996 presidential possibilities: Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp.
On the side of making values an important part of the Republican message is the second tier of possible presidential candidates: former Education Secretary William Bennett, South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell, Jr., Rep. Bob Dornan of California, Gov. Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin, and Pat Buchanan.
Also trumpeting values are GOP congressional leaders who influence the debate, such as Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas, and Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia.
So far quiet on the question are former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, Gov. John Engler of Michigan, and Lamar Alexander, a former education secretary and Tennessee governor. All three are possible 1996 contenders.
Former Vice President Dan Quayle, who took the lead in raising the values issue in last year's campaign, has been keeping a low political profile until he assesses the field for 1996.
The reason so many Republicans are, to varying degrees, chary of the issue is this: They worry that in defending morality, individual responsibility, and traditional norms of right and wrong, the party will sound intolerant, paternalistic, and preachy and therefore turn off more voters than it can afford to lose.
This is especially true for the abortion issue, one that most voters do not regard as central to their concerns and that young voters in particular do not want to have shoved down their throats. They will accept a party that opposes government financing of abortion and that says states should have some power to impose restrictions in such matters as parental and spousal notification and gender selection.
Virtually all Republican pollsters agree on this assessment of the abortion issue, regardless of their personal predilections.
The affable Barbour, whose job it is to get Republicans elected and to keep peace in the party, is a good index of how far a man in his position can go in discussing certain issues without creating dissension.
He in particular has made clear
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