European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 16, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns Andrew j. Glass the stars and stripes monday november 16,1987 presidential contenders fall into two classes the current crop of presidential contenders May be divided into two groups those who say the things they think they need to say to win the while House and those who remain True to themselves. Experience shows that political honesty alone is no guarantor of Success Bruce Babbitt the Able former governor of Arizona has been speaking out on the Enid of government to pay its Way while beginning to invest in the country s future. Nevertheless Babbitt seems stuck in the second tier of democratic Candi dates. At the same Lime Illinois sen. Paul Simon who is equally unafraid to be himself appears to be moving to the forefront of the democratic pack by projecting an air of authenticity. Simon knows that in each recent watershed presidential election 1960, 1968, 1976 and 1980vot ers chose change Over continuity. As a believer in governmental activism Simon would take the country Down quite another path than Ronald Reagan. What smore Simon has possibly written More books than Reagan has Ever read. Robert Strauss is an elder statesman in the democratic party who likes to mix drinks for reporters or to entertain Bob and Elizabeth Dole his neighbors in the watergate apartment Complex. Strauss has matured As a political analyst since the Days when he believed the Barons of the . Senate would deliver the 1960 nomination to his fellow texan Lyndon b. Johnson casting aside the pretensions of a Callow up Start named John f. Kennedy. The other Day Strauss reflected that what the democratic presidential race lacked so far was a candidate with a demonstrated ability to clearly describe where the nation is where he perceives it ought to be headed and How it can get there. The first candidate that docs that cite timely will emerge in Atlanta As the party s nominee Strauss predicts. Here s one potentially ticklish problem with this scenario a declared aspirant Jesse Jackson already fills All the criteria. Yet Strauss is not alone among the pros in adamantly insisting that Jackson won t be the nominee. And he s unclear Over How Jackson s role in the party would evolve if he comes to Atlanta with say 20 to 25 percent of the delegates. Another parly pro Robert Beckel who handle Walter Mondale s failed presidential bid in 1984, thinks that a Strong showing by Jackson on super tuesday within an otherwise narrowly divided Field would provide the spark that new York gov. Mario Cuomo needs to kindle his candidacy. Strauss notes that in the eyes of the press Cuomo looks like a giant whereas most of the Field is seen As midgets. Wherever democratic insiders such As Strauss and William f. Buckley or. Tim Youl term Yoxall plea Lett sewed Beckel gather it does t take them Long to agree that the party must have a southerner on the ticket to re capture a White House that has been in Republican hands for All but four of the last 20 years. But Strauss first Choice Georgia s Sam Nunn would rather be a Power broker in the Senate than to have his psyche examined by a slew of unlicensed journalistic psychologists. The political imperative that drives the democrats toward the playing of their Southern card inevitably leads them to Tennessee sen. Albert Gore. But Gore has been dealing with what advertising people Call a re positioning strategy within the crowded political Bazaar. That kind of conversion on the altar of expediency makes even democratic pros who have respected Gore a bit queasy. Some of them however would t be at All sur prised to see Cuomo declare his candidacy after a tight race on super tuesday and to go on by offering the vice presidential nomination to Gore. C new York times the of on expressed it the columns and cartoons on this Page Tepee Send whom 01 la author and Are m no Way to be considered As representing me mews 01 the stars and stripes or the United slates government when walking out is Only possible thing to do a few weeks ago president Kha Menei of Iran not to be confused with the mad Ayatollah whom he serves delivered a speech in the United nations so routine in its outrageous distortions of reality As to go almost unnoticed. It would probably have gone entirely unnoticed except that the american delegation presumably under instructions from ambassador Vernon Walters walked out. That walkout brought criticism specifically from the new York times whih termed it dumb and the position of the times is that Noth ing at All is proved by walking out that to do so impairs the very logic of International Assembly and that it pays to re member that when the soviet Union was walking out on the Security Council Back in 1950, we grabbed the Opportunity to get . Sanction for our police action in Korea. The soviet Union has t walked out since we Are informed. It is not an open and closed question whether there Are circumstances in which walking out is the Only dignified recourse. Suppose that you were the . Ambassador and you got an advanced text of a speech to be delivered Tomor Row afternoon by the ethiopian ambassador charging that the president of the United states is engaged in importing abyssinian virgins for the whorehouse of Santa Barbara Calif. What would you do ask for Lime to rebut such charges president Khamenei by the Way charged that the United states was baldly lying in its allegations about an Irani an vessel it had been caught laying out mines in the persian Gulf. This notwithstanding that the networks had pictures of the captured vessel equipped to do exactly what it had been apprehended in doing. And in Case you did t know it . Protocol decrees that no right of reply can be claimed against a speech by a head of state. Is there an obvious alternative does one simply sit and look Well sad in my Days in the . 1973i remember two episodes As in Point. The first was the opening speech by the South african ambassador. All nations ambassadors make a statement at each of the general Assembly sessions. All the Afri can and most of the third world delegates were poised to walk out As soon Ashe South african began speaking. And indeed the moment he opened his Mouth they stood and began to walk to the door. The South african ambassador then gave his speech i have nothing to add to the statements Given by my predecessor one year ago he said and sat Down yielding the floor to the next speaker representing South Yemen. This left about 45 ambassadors stranded four Steps from their seats in route to the chamber doors causing a most humiliating and confused situation. Half of them ambled clumsily Back to their scats half weighed that alternative As undignified and continued though hesitantly to walk out and what seemed like almost a third half sort of stood there hating South Africa even More for precipitating their embarrassment. Which embarrassment was As nothing compared to that of the British and . Ambassadors to Uganda. Those were the rollicking Days of Fri Amin and they got wind of what he planned on Uganda s National Holiday namely a speech in which he would recite the forged Proto cols of the Learned elders of Zion a hoary anti semitic tirade that the bloody colonel had just discovered and thought to electrify the world with. In consultation the British and . Ambassadors resolved to walk out of the ceremony As soon As col. Amin launched into the protocols. But there was this problem. The Cable addressed to the Secretary of state or. Kissinger from his beleaguered ambassador was this in Uganda the automatic Assumption if someone walks out of a formal Assembly is that he is driven by a Call of nature he cannot control. Solicit advice As to whether under circumstances we should remain at ceremony and listen to Infa Mous protocols or endure humiliation of being suspected of Lack of bladder con i never did inquire into the advice or. Kissinger gave our ambassador but recall the episode As framing a Nice dilemma. Whether to walk out under what circumstances is there a Middle Way per haps the state department should Supply its delegation with huge earmuffs to be donned when listening to such As or. Khamenei or maybe our delegates should conspicuously be seen Reading nostalgic biographies of the Shah of Iran might they get out a pack of playing cards and Start a game of solitaire on their desks or hell do As Vernon Walters told them to do walk out. There Are times when petulance evolves into Indig nation indignation into the rejection of barbarism. C Pelt synd calf
