hool Dean Anthony Kronman, GRD '72, LAW '75, allowed him to pass out the signs.
Republican Presidential candidate Steve Forbes spoke to a crowd of 500 at a meeting of the Yale Political Union (YPU) on Mon., Mar. 4, in the Law School's Levenson Auditorium. His speech was the day before Connecticut's primary.
Just before Forbes' arrival, Paul Meyer, LAW '98, ran up the aisle distributing "Clinton/Gore '96" signs, further rousing the passions of an already fired-up crowd. Jason Barlett, the state director of Forbes' campaign, tried to stop Meyer, but Law Sc
hool Dean Anthony Kronman, GRD '72, LAW '75, allowed him to pass out the signs.
Forbes entered to the cheers of fans and his detractors' jeers. Many members of the audience chanted, "Four more years;" the audience seemed split equally between Forbes' and other candidates' supporters.
Keeping his composure despite occasional heckling from the audience, Forbes stressed the need for "less government and more freedom." He commented on what he called today's "indecision, incoherence, and drift...where the President has to get up each m orning and look at the polls to see what he's supposed to believe that day."
Forbes continued with an outline of his proposed 17 percent flat tax mandate, which would include deductions for adults and children. "When we're through with Washington, the initials of the IRS will be RIP," Forbes said.
He also touched on issues including families, education, congressional term limits, Medicare, Medicaid, and social security. Forbes related his platform on each issue to the need to return opportunity and responsibility to the people. "The American dr eam is, simply, to allow each of us to discover and develop to the fullest, our God-given talent," he said. Forbes concluded that America could once again become "the shining city on the hill," because "Americans do things more right than wrong."
Forbes went on to answer several questions posed by members of the audience. Roger Shoenfeld, SM '99, asked, "What should the American people take from your crossing Yale University picket lines to address this forum?" Forbes replied that he would not interfere with the negotiation process between Yale and its unions.
The audience reaction to Forbes' speech varied, and many commented on his mixed reception by Yale students. "Usually if [a politician is] up there on a stump speech and the crowd acts up, they are thrown off." The fact that Forbes didn't react in this way shows that "he really believes in what he is saying," Bartlett said. He continued, "I don't think anyone else would have the courage to speak here [at Yale], especially considering this is Bill and Hillary's alma mater."
"It's very difficult to speak, especially to a body where most of the people are liberal, and people are very, very highly criticalŠ. I think he did a good jobŠ. He's clearly not a politician, and I think in some respects, he really is a man of the pe ople," Emily Fink, ES '98, YPU vice-president, said.
Others did not respond as favorably. "I think he is both unrealistic and not a particularly likely candidateŠ. I don't think he has the real fundamental respect or solution to the problems of America's poor that Clinton does," Richard Brown, BR '97, s aid.
Monroe resident Richard Brakewood said, "I'm a 40-year-old taxpayer, and I'm sick and tired of paying so much in taxes. I'm all for Forbes."
Copyright 1996, The Yale Herald, Inc. All rights reserved.
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