European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 14, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes wednesday january 14,1987 columns & comments James Reston demos must resist following negative strategy coming Back to inc leadership of Bolh houses of the Congress for the first Lime in six years the democrats Are con fronted by Bolh an Opportunity and a danger. And How they handle this dilemma May very Well determine whether icy regain control of inc White House in 1988. The danger is that they will use their new responsibilities mainly to oppose the policies of the Reagan administration to dramatize its failures and mock its pretensions. The temptation to follow a negative strategy is obvious. The Reagan administration has presided Over a National debt that is larger than that of All previous administrations combined. And while it has reduced inflation and interest rates and came into the new year with a Boom ing Slock Market it is saddled with a record Trade deficit and an embarrassing catalogue of foreign policy failures and scandals. It is a risky business however for the democrats merely to concentrate on the record of the past part of which they contributed to. Their Challenge is to come Forward with a National Agenda of their own for the last years of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s that is addressed to the mounting problems at Home and abroad. This does not mean thai the investigations into the shipment of arms to terrorists in Iran or the diversion of funds to the contras of Nicaragua should be neglected. But it does mean that the people voting two years hence Wilt Bemore interested in the democratic Par by s vision of the future than in its indict ments of the past. At Home for example what ideas do the democrats have about the alarming growth of Public and private debt about the decline of american Industry in rela Tion to foreign Competition about the plight of the poor and of individual Farmers and about the deterioration of the cities and the environment and the education of our children abroad what is their approach to the nuclear arms race the loss of control Over the nation s Borders the infiltration of communism in Central America and the collapse of meaningful negotiations in the Middle East Carl Rowan for the time being and not surprisingly they have no answers not even a common approach to these problems. They have a collection of ambitious men who would like to succeed president Reagan each having his own View of what the parly s policies should be. N general the democrats reject the notion that the Reagan administration has achieved a successful revolution against the welfare stale policies of the new and fair deals but they Are also inclined to believe that Reagan has Cre ated by his personality and his Mastery of television a political revolution in the an of winning elections. Accordingly one faction in the party believes that it can regain control of the executive Only by accepting perhaps in a modified Forni some of the Reagan administration s policies. Another faction however argues that if the democrats go to the country in 1988 with a me too Agenda the people will prefer the Republican original rather than a bogus copy. So this Wing would Lake the easy Way of damning the Reagan policies of borrow and borrow spend and spend and reverting to the old democratic policies of lax and tax spend and per there is however a growing realization among democratic moderate Sand progressives and this includes most of their leading presidential Candi dates thai the Hope of their party lies in neither of these extremes that they must not plan for a world that is gone or dream of their glory Days but assess the needs of the nation in a changing world and define a coherent platform for future action. This has nor yet been done and it is a difficult thing to do. We do not operate under the parliamentary system where the opposition party is sort of a govern men in wailing with its own Shadow Cabinet and its clearly defined party manifestos. But in 1987, before the candidate Start storming the primary elections on super tuesday of 1988 and. Flying from one Airport to another with Appeal to local interests it might be useful to think about what the nation requires ind what the democratic party hands for rather than merely who stands for it. These Are some signs of move ment in this direction but most of them Are individual exertions Gary Hart of Colorado for example a taken the trouble to define his policies in a series of remarkably Good speeches and. Gov. Mario Cuomo of new York is Begu Ming to speak out and recognize that maybe he has no right considering the state of the Republic not to try openly for his party s nomination in this sense 1987 can be a useful year not in providing answer to our problems but at lean in getting the questions straight a Towert to in 3mm Cuomo saddling up for i 988 presidential race i see four great and ongoing stories of 1987, and three of them will not be resolved to anyone s satisfaction. My colleagues and i will write a zillion More words about the Iran arms scandal but with Cia director William j. Casey silenced by brain cancer and it. Col. Oliver North suffering from political lockjaw the con Gressional committees and the special prosecutor will never team the full truth. The Congress and inc while House will fight for most of the year Over the nation s first trillion Dollar Lalion that president Reagan will veto but come de Cember we will still see worrisome Trade imbalances thai could produce a recession but surely will cause us to say what a mess Only the fourth major and continuous Story will give us any fun. 1 am referring to the politicians who will joust for the Catbird seals in the contests for the demo cratic and Republican nominations of 1988. I expect new York gov Mario Cuomo to come galloping into the democratic fray looking for front runner status at the end of this month. 1 talked by Telephone with Cuomo recently minutes after he delivered his state of the slate address. He said he has one More gubernatorial task submission of a new budget before he will answer the friends All Over the country who Are urging him to run for president and telling him that not much time is left for them to pick a i think Cuomo will offer to be their horse based on these aspects of our conversation Cuomo believes that the democrats will regain the White House in 1988. He admits to taking note of a Gallup poll showing that the Gap Between him and in presumed democratic favorite former senator Gary Hart of Colorado narrowed in just nine months from 23 to s percentage Points. But i Don l believe in polls and never have says Cuomo who adds and 1 Don t know How to be does Cuomo believe that someone with Loo Many vowels in his name that is an italian can be elected president in 1982, when major Koch of new York City was ahead of me by 38 percentage Points people said i could t win because i could never get the jewish vote Cuomo recalled. "1 won the governor s race Over Koch who up till then was the most popular politician in the slate. So 1 reject this line thai an italian can l be president. Ethnicity is part of our strength. Americans relish it Cuomo said that when he left Law school in 1956 not one Wall Street Law firm would even Grant Bint an interview. He said his Law school Dean suggested that he change his you imagine me with these hands and thin face masquerading As Mark conrad1? Cuomo asked me. I found a Way to practice Law and i did Al right 1 say it s a lot of baloney that this country is Itol so crude that people won t vote for a jew. An Halfon a Black Cuomo says the Issue be faces u not whether he can win the presidency but what he can do after win Ning it. The person elected who cannot Deal with the budget and Trade deficits the russians Arnu control will become another Herbert Hoover Cuomo Slid. The governor vows that at the end of january he ingoing to ask himself can you handle these issues i think he told me what his answer win be when he talked of the advantages that be and . Michael s. Dukakis have in their records of Deal ing successfully with Tough and Complex state Unm Hart sen. Joseph video of Delaware rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri and the other democratic Hope Fuls would do Well to conclude thai Mano Cuomo i the Guy they will need to Cut off at the pass
