European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 19, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes monday january 19.1987 James resign the system has been tested and it still works on the 27tii of january president Rongan will deliver his seventh annual Siatt or in Union menage to lit 100th Congress at inc beginning or the 200 h anniversary of the . Constitution. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger says we arc living through a nutty  american Renais Sance but some other folks around Washington think inc state of inc Union is not so hot. They Point to inc record budget and Trade deficits to the foreign policy and Wall Street scandals in the nuclear arms race and to the gaps Between the Rich and the poor Between love and lust and be tween inc Prosperity of one Region and the adversity of others. In fact they re wondering out loud if something in t seriously wrong with inc the system and Sug Gesting that we should change it and bring i up to Date Tor the 21 St Century which is now j Usi around the next turn in the Long journey. Some of them would Pul presidents in for six years instead of tour others would make it easier to recall duds from the White House and keep better labs on their health still others want a National primary to nominate presidents or constitutional amendments to balance the budget and stamp out abortion. Here i proclaim myself a certified stick in the mud j can l remember a Lime when so Many alluring reforms were floating Down the Potomac some or them Worth considering or a worse time to consider them seriously. For the capital is in a highly and distracted mood divided leaderless and in no shape 10edit the founding fathers. Besides All this present uproar Between the while House and the Congress Over sneaking guns to Iran and Money to the nicaraguan contras does t prov that the system has broken Down but rather that it s still working still exposing and correcting error an still staggering along after two centuries. U j not the system that s wrong but some of the people who have been evading and corrupting it it. Col. Oliver North with or without higher authority we still Don t know which regarded Congress As a nuisance to be avoided and manipulated. The sys tem did t let us Down it saved us. It did to or course Tell us How to handle the rus sians or compete with the japanese or preserve our cities or elect the most qualified men and women to Public office or educate our children. In fact it assumed human stupidity ambition greed and religious fanaticism and merely suggested a few rules to hold things together. One of these rules was thai no on person not even the president let alone North had the right to impose his will or ideology in secret on the elected re Presella Tom Wicker Fol a a Wolf Loti sources coh6rks 0a64mzjs am we Stigas lives of the people. The purpose of the system was to assure he authority of the president subject to the checks and balances of Congress and the courts without creating As Lincoln Pul it a government too Strong for the liberties of the people or too weak to maintain itself against its enemies at Home or abroad. It was precisely this Defiance of the principle of accountability that led to inc recent mistakes Al the Reykjavik Summit and the Iran con Ira scandals. And All these investigations Are not designed merely to Rake Over the past but to restore the principle of accountability in the future. In this sense the state of the president is sad if not bad but the slate of the Union is Good or anyway fairly Good. Weinberger has stars in Hii eyes As usual about a new american Renaissance free of nuclear weapons and defended by Shields in Ouier space but the system keeps these dreams in balance. There has t been a Reagan counterrevolution against the new Deal or the great society bul merely a useful correction the Public purposes of the demo cratic glory Days went too tar along the lines of the welfare stale and had to be amended but they were not destroyed. So the ideology of the Supply siders with their emphasis on private gain ask not what you can do for your country but what you can do for yourself is being lugged Back to the Middle. Everywhere in the world the attempts to make human life conform to some Sharp ideology have failed. Communism socialism free Market capitalism Are All in the process of adjustment to reality. It s an awkward painful process but As someone said the answer to democracy s problems is nol less democracy but More not less accountability bul More not More confrontation but More cooperation. Pm you Tumi wig vice Harf already aiming at 1988 super tuesday9 Quick now who was the last Bona fide presiden tial candidate one with n Chance to win to have written a novel did any president do so before drafter the White House Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were prolific writers but not of fiction. So Gary Hart whose novel strategies of zeus is just being published thinks he May be the Only candidate who can Bill him self As a novelist and of course he Hopes to be the first president to make that claim too. But Hart who has Given up one of Colorado s sen ate seats to make another bid for the while House is running scared he s having researchers Check out a report that Franklin Roosevelt published a mystery Story in his pre Percsi denial life. Being As literate As Gary Han who s already the co author of another novel with sen. William Cohen of Maine won t be enough to win the new Hampshire primary. But Han is off to a particularly Good Start in his second run for the Rose Garden. He s already been to Moscow for Long talks with Mikhail Gorbachev Eduard Shevardnadze and Anatoly Dobrynin giving him a Lead on other democrats in the presidential subject that matters most foreign affairs expertise. He won t try to predict the Field for next year s Pri Maries anybody who s mentioned prominently in his View is Likely at least to Start the race. The  should be Able to raise the Money to compete in Iowa and or new Hampshire hoping thai lightning might strike As it did for Hart in 1981 or for vice presidential consideration. As one who s already been around the track Han thinks there May be no More than two survivors of those Early tests. Thai s nol because no one Els would be Able to do Well in Iowa or new Hampshire but because those contests will be followed on March 8 by super tuesday when 13 states ii of the Southern or Border will choose their delegates. Competing seriously on super tuesday Han Esti mates will require Al least s3 million to j5 million in a candidate s Bank account because of the need to buy television time All at once in All those Stales particularly expensive markets such As Florida Texas and Massachusetts. There will be too Little Lime after Towa and new Hampshire to raise that kind of Money he believes so super tuesday probably will be limited to those candidates who be collected it before the Early tests. As he sees things now Only i to Likely democratic candidates himself and gov. Mario Cuomo of new York have the ability to raise enough funds in and Vance to carry them through super tuesday. Only two White candidates that is Hart fully expects the Rev Jesse Jackson to be in the race and a formidable competitor on super tuesday. Jackson does t really need big Campaign Money. As the Only Black in the race he gets press and television exposure without having to buy it and the heavy concentration of Black democrats in the Southern states makes super tuesday a natural target for him. In fact if two or perhaps More while Candi dates do survive into super tuesday Hart can imagine headlines the next Day proclaiming Jackson the big Winner. That is a solid Black vote in such states As Georgia and Alabama together with a divided while vote could yield Jackson a bloc of delegates big enough to give him Strong influence on the democratic platform and ticket. If that happens it would be of profound importance to the democrats Hopes. Winning the presi Dency will require them to carry at least five perhaps More. Southern states probably including either Texas or Florida and that can hardly be done without a solid Black vote to add 10 a respectable slice of the Whit vote. A defection by Jackson if he fell that he and his delegates had been spurned could therefore be disastrous in the South. On inc other hand if he were Sien there and Cis where As having 100 much influence on the party and its ticket that could be equally problem. But that s next year. Freed of his Senate duties his novel in the bookstores his experience in attic Bank it Wmk to uni Stinst