European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 19, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes sunday april 19,1987 columns William f. Buckley or. Seeking the viable conservative candidate the question is everywhere asked who Are the conservatives Back ing for president in 1988? it is asked Only because no one knows he answer. Ii in t As it was in 1964, when the answer was As simple As auh20, As the bumper slickers Tor Barry ool dealer came affectionately to designate that 18 Karat Gold candidate. In 1968, conservatives were split the majority had plighted their troth Lor Ichard Nixon not expecting a serious Challenge from Ronald Reagan who in deed did t formally enter the race until after he had arrived in Miami. In 1976 there was never any question Reagan a the Choice even Over an incumbent Republican president. And again in 1980 the conservatives were with Reagan. The great political Surprise of the conservative season has been the fail ure of rep. Jack Kemp to establish hittite to the succession. He says the right things he is a Good speaker a Brig tand likable Man perfect age exotic background. Tine family. But for some reason he has not yet been passed the Torch. Thai May yet happen in the Day ahead but the last National poll pub wished showed him with 5 percent Back ing among Republican Volen Only i percent of whom declared inc selves immovable on the subject. By contrast vice president George Bush Joi 33 percent backing with 8 per cent Resolute and sen. Bob Dole got 19 percent with 3 percent Resolute., Trie big Surprise was Al Haig who came in ahead of Kemp with 7 percent preference 2 percent Resolute. Not every Republican voter is a conservative but outside the South Al conservatives Are Republican voters. If to use round figures we think of half the republicans As self declared conserva Tives then inc figures above Are All the More surprising in respect of , As the presumptive heir has divided support among conservatives. There Are those who think of him As the Abl coadjutor of Reagan whose policies Bush is assumed to endorse. But Here Are others who think of him As the Man who challenged Reagan in 1980 and in his heart still thinks of reaganomics As voodoo. Meanwhile he struggles Wilh Carl Rowan that awful Burden of the vice presidency which is the siamese twin problem. Hubert Humphrey was one of the most spontaneous political figures in re cent history but by the time he had served Lyndon Johnson As vice president for three and a half years he was reduced in the Public mind to sheer amorphous Ness every time you sought out Humphrey the Shadow of lbs got in the Way. Bush has this problem and it is not his fault thai he is indistinct in the ideological spectrum. Moreover it will be a while before he establishes Lurf clearly his own irrespective of whether in exactly or Only Langon tally reflects that of Reagan. Dole raises confused and confusing questions among conservatives. They think of him As temperamentally a conservative but of a pre Supply Side High lax school they Point to the big leadership he gave to the 1982 lax Bill pay ing not much heed to Reagan s own sponsorship of that Bill. They acknowledge that he has been a faithful representative of Reagan while serving As re publican Leader in the Senate. They just done seem quite to know what to think about Dole. The Rev. Pat Robertson score 3, Reso Lute 1 has said everything conservatives wish to hear but there is the indisposition to believe that any minister is ultimately a serious candidate. Sen. Paul Laxdall is affectionately regarded As Atrue believer but his score on the last poll he has not Yel announced Bear in mind is 3, Wilh Resolute 2. And gov. Pierre Dupont who in almost every re Spect says what conservatives wish to hear is burdened primarily by his Low count i Resolute Zero. I am myself much indebted to professor John Kenneth Galbraith for a formulation he gave when asked several years ago whom he was backing for the presi Dency on the democratic ticket. His answer the leftward Osl viable Candi  the operative word there is of course viable i doff my hat to professor Galbraith and buy whole his formula with Only the single substitution of right word most for leftward Osl. Where will american conserva Tives finally consolidate inv Qubty in the absence of a Leader Wilh the personal backing of a Goldwater or a Reagan be Hind the candidate who proves viable. How do you define viable Well it Means you have to entice the voters of Iowa new Hampshire and 10 Souther Stales. C Uriyu Campanis spotlights America s racist views Al Campanis has been fired As vice president and director of player personnel for the los Angeles dodgers. His crime he was dumb enough to suggest on nationwide to that Blacks Are too dumb to be a Field manager or general manager of a professional baseball team. Campanis reveals baseball s shame racism blares a headline in the Baltimore Sun. What Campanis did was throw a camera on Ameri Ca s shame racism in his bumbling Way the former teammate of Jackie Robinson blurted out what Many while people in America think at every level and especially in corporate boardrooms Blacks can run fasl punch hard Juke their Way to touchdowns and Dunk basketballs but they Lack the intellectual Powers to hold decision making jobs. Campanis Pul More delicately than it is put in the offices of a lol of publishers editors and corporate cos asked on abcs Nightwine program Why Blacks have so few lop level positions in baseball he replied "1 Don t believe it s prejudice. I truly believe they May not 1iave some of the necessities to be let s say a Field manager or perhaps a general  it was especially easy to become angry at Campanis who As a player could not have earned the elastic in Robinson s Jockstrap and who surely could not have claimed superiority to Jackie in either intellect or per Sonal strength and integrity. Some of us know that in ukes More brainpower to produce a championship basketball team than to Man age a baseball Pennant Winner and we know thai the Boston celtics . Jones and Georgetown univer sity s John Thompson Are proof thai the Blacks Lack brains business is just a naked racial slur. We also know that Campanis was reflecting a wide slice of bigotry in America. How Many of the newspapers of America have a lop sports editor who is Black How Many editorial Page editors How Many Black editors in chief or publishers How Many television stations have Black general managers station managers news directors Spons editors watch which a Jock Are broadcasting network football games this fall. You la see a taken Clack no Wand then. In my profession the Campanis notion is pretty Well entrenched. Blacks Are Good hit no think or at least they Aren t supposed to Mink Well enough to be Given a lop Job Over almost any while who applies. Kay fanning editor of the Christian science Monitor has said thai As president of the american society of newspaper editors this year she will give priority to the recruitment of minorities for reporting and other jobs. She won t find easy Success. So journalism cannot Wilh honesty throw bean balls at baseball Many americans want to believe that assumptions of inherent Black inferiority rest Only Wilh racist youth gangs Tike the skinheads of Southern California or Kun flux klansmen or crazies in the Northwest who talk about carving out i hair special country in which aryan supremacy will prevail. But we see assumptions of Black inferiority reflect Din the staffing of the while House and the Reagan administration. The cries against affirmative action smell of the belief thai wherever a Black gets a Good Job some Superior White has been cheated. Poor Al Campanis. I feel sorry for him because he lacked the necessities for Balking or doing a fade away slide or stealing Lime by going to the resin bag when Ted Koppel threw him a question that was t even a minor league curve. So Campanis is being crucified by people across America who Aren t about to Siop thinking that Blacks Lack the necessities for employment and especially promotion in their enterprises. C North America Syndicate