Christie Todd Whitman, a former governor of New Jersey and former Environ-mental Protection Agency administrator, said the Republican Party should focus less on extreme conservatism and more on moderate policy at a lecture Tuesday in Salomon 101.
The lecture, part of the John Hazen White series followed a signing of Whitman's recent New York Times bestseller, "It's My Party Too," which drew between 10 and 15 people. Her lecture drew close to 200.
Whitman spoke about the topics covered in her book, particularly her concerns about the recent direction of the Republican Party and the lack of support and audience that she and other centrists have.
Because she is not currently in office or seeking election, she said, "I can say the things that other people are thinking, but - because they have political futures ahead of them - are afraid to say."
Whitman said that the Republican Party is controlled by extreme conservatives whom she calls "social fundamentalists" and urged her fellow centrist Republicans to take action and refuse to be pushed out of the party based on a "litmus test" of what a good Republican is.
From Whitman's perspective, the United States is evenly divided and the small plurality with which President Bush won the 2004 election should not have been seen as a mandate to take the party or the country drastically in one direction. She said the Republican and Democratic parties used to compete for the moderate votes in general elections but have shifted recently to focusing on their bases.
"What's happened is that the political pundits have decided that since they can't reasonably compete in the way they used to for the center, they are not going to bother about it anymore," she said, adding that this leads to bad policy since the majority of Americans identify themselves as moderate.
During her time at the EPA, Whitman learned that parties' focus on their bases hurts the country not only domestically but also internationally. She said that Bush's refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol because it was not supported by his Christian evangelical base gave other countries the impression that the United States does not care about climate change, when in fact it is spending more than $5 billion a year on climate control research.
Whitman said the Republican Party has to stop pushing extreme points of view and focus more on common, core philosophies.
"(The Republican Party) is all about partisan politics. It's not about policy," she said.
Whitman spoke about her experience being labeled a "RINO" - a "Republican in Name Only" - by her fellow party members. She said that once party leaders label someone as not a "true" Republican, they will do anything they can to push that person out of the party.
Whitman said politicians used to argue passionately about matters of principle in the Senate and House of Representatives, but afterward "they'd go out and have a drink or dinner ... and they'd say, 'OK, look. I disagree with you basically about this point, but what can we do to solve the problem?'"
Now Whitman said, politicians just call each other names. She said she has never before seen such extreme levels of bitterness and partisanship within the parties, which makes it extremely difficult for politicians to develop good policy.
"Fundamentalists want one, correct way to approach things," she said.
Whitman finished her speech by expressing concern about the next presidential election. Because there is no incumbent running for re-election, she believes it is the perfect opportunity for both parties to re-evaluate their directions.
She said she is worried, however, that the Republican Party might not consider nominating someone like former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani or Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., because fundamentalists believe that they are "not pure, not 'right' enough," which she believes would be a huge disservice to the American people.
Despite sparse attendance at the lecture, Whitman joked that she was surprised to see as many people as she did.
"I would've thought that all of the Brown family was focused now ... on Saturday's game," she said, referring to the impending championship football game.
President Ruth Simmons, who sits on the board of directors of Texas Instruments with Whitman, sat in the front row for the lecture and was acknowledged warmly by Whitman in the beginning of her speech.
Deborah Brooks '08, a New Jersey resident, said that although she considers herself liberal, it was refreshing not to hear the typical "Bush-bashing" by a speaker on campus. "(Whitman) just spoke about the way it is," Brooks said. "It was good critiquing."
