European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 3, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns . Rosenthal failure to criticize Jackson shows Lack of respect at1anta far two Days the South was a Politi Cal supermarket with All the Good neatly spread out. Available for comparison shopping. The do morals Sal lie red together on one Day and republicans the next in debates meticulously organized by the Atlanta journal and Atlanta Constitution pinning another Rose on this warm mannered smart and Lively City. They a Etc intelligent debates but something was misting. When i was checking out or the hotel a Bell Captain asked whether i had a favorite candidate. When 1 said no he said neither did he yet. I have to keep tossing it All up he said. I still Nave a lot of Homework to  the hotel employee was Black and i had assumed that he had made up i mind for Jesse Jackson on super tuesday. Realized what had been missing in the debates particularly the democratic. The White candidates had been treating Jackson As if he were invisible and his supporters As if they did note isl. On the platform they almost never talked to him at him or about him. They never paid him the dignity of challenging anything he said. Nor did they give Southern Blacks the Courtesy or a straightforward Appeal for their votes on primary Day. Everybody agrees that most Blacks will vote for Jackson for some Good reasons. He has helped make the Black vote enormously important. He says things that touch the minds a Well As the hearts of so Many Black voters. And he has shown that what he says reaches a lot of White voters Loo. For the other candidates to keep talking to cull other past him is insulting to him and to his sup porters. They a line to ate any Issue with him be cause they know his Power among Black voters. Each candidate Hopes that Jackson will shed his strength on him one Day. Fair enough to Hope but to treat Jackson and his backers with unquestioning acquiescence or silence seems condescending. The other democratic candidates for instance con stantly deride each other s credentials nov. Michael Dukakis s opponents make a big thing out of his Lack of foreign affairs background. He dismisses rep Rich Ard a Ophardt because tie has not met a state budget. Nobody Brines Jackson into the qualifications de Bate although he was never elected to Public office administrative or legislative. It would be a simple act of Candor for one of them to bring it up unless they All really do not want to hear Why so Many people think Jackson bus qualifications More important than elective office. The White candidates also make the disrespectful Assumption that if they Nomine Jackson critically on foreign affairs or defense say his supporter would be furious and Luni in. To backs on the Man who dared. Why assume that the other candidates Are forever having at each other hoping their attacks will pull away voters who support their opponents. Bui they act As if Jackson is above criticism or somehow not there on the platform. This takes it for granted thai his supporters arc so unsophisticated that they cannot tolerate a Challenge to him without launching vendettas. Jews resent being taken for granted politically so do Irish americans and italian americans. I expect no american group like that at All. Jackson is by far the Besl speaker of the Bunch Democrat or Republican. In Atlanta As everywhere when Jesse Jackson talks Aboul drugs or the poor or the homeless Mil comes nol Only passion but the fingertip sensitivity of real knowledge. But he still fudges foreign issues still loves Catchy rhetoric still seems to operate at cruising Speed intellectually instead of re examining issues and himself from Lime 10 Lime fresh. But then his opponents arc hardly sparkling with intellectual Endeavor. In Atlanta j act son made Gary Hart look adolescent. He coolly rejected Hart s eager invitation to All candidates la come right out and Lay Israel was just All wrong in the latest crisis As Hart did it s possible that while voters not opposed 10 the idea of a Black president or vice president May want More openness of mind More readiness to accept fallibility and change past positions less automatic response More leadership and less posturing from Jesse Jackson than they get from other candidates the old double Standard. That May not be fair. But it is a lot More complimentary to Jackson than talking past him and it is More respectful to Black voters id try to talk directly o them now than treat them As if their votes were not Only spoken for in the primaries but deliverable on election Day. That is taking an awful lot of people for granted. Andrew j. Glass demos wondering what Jackson really wants in the Early going the contest for the Dormu Eruthie presidential Nomi nation resembled a chinese menu Vot ers could choose from liberals seasoned to taste in group a or perhaps flip to a More moderately Flavoured candidate in group b. Bui even As the choices narrow it s apparent that Jesse Jackson will be on the menu for the whole political season he is the democrats Fortune cookie granted a free pass in the first round Jackson is Likely to do Well on super tuesday especially in Southern states with Large Black electorates. Wherever democrats gather they ask one another what does Jesse want the question assumes that he will play a big Rote in shaping the eventual Oul come. "1 cannot Tell you what Jesse wants said rep William Gray Iii of Pennsylva Nia a Jackson supporter and a fellow Baptist preacher. But i can Tell you this hcs Learned a lot from 1984, this time around when the time comes hell know it s the , himself a master Power broker in his role As house1 budget committee chair 3i, reviewed Jackson s rather sour Commerce with Walter Mondale in 1984, when most Black leaders backed Mondale. Shortly before the san Francisco convention Jackson went to Mondale and said he was ready to Cut a Deal slut Mon Dale replied that they had Little to talk Aboul he noted that he already had a lock on the nomination. Eventually to keep Jackson within the ibid the democrats did provide him with a prime time convention Slot and later with a Campaign style jul will things turn out differently in i58s7 another Jackson Backer California House speaker Willie Brown says he be came his National chairman because Jesse is the Best Way i know of to Jet a ticket to the nominating  Brown says by mid june Jackson will have at least 1,000 of the 4,160 demo cratic delegates wrapped up. Gray agrees with Brown s arithmetic. But he argues that the democrats should t wan until they descend upon a press fed bedlam in Atlanta before strik ing an internal bargain. Says Gray we should ask ourselves hey do we really want the White House you bet we Dol so let s sit Down and resolve this early.1" at that Point conventional wis Dom hold that Jackson would demand a High level Job speculation ranges from the vice presidency to . Delegate. But Brown and Gray disagree. They say that s nol How Jackson operates. Jesse in t interested in Job Gray asserts. He s not your traditional poli  it s tempting o ask just what ii so untraditional As a successful candidate Jackson wears elegant tailor made suits crosses the Atlantic on the concorde and sees to it that his sons Are educated at Washington s most exclusive prep school. But with Jackson that s begging the Issue. Like the Kennedy once did Jackson intensively courts the upper crust of the nation s Media establishment. His Well furnished ego is equally sensitive o real or imagined slights. Nevertheless from his earliest years on the Public Mage. Jackson has set his own rules and framed his own Agenda. Should inc democrats win the White House Jackson s null role might Well be that of inside outsider summoned every so often by the president Louke on world class assignments. Gray for Eiam ple sees Jackson As leading a renewed drive to rid the nation of drugs or striving to Complete the civil rights revolution or perhaps mediating a conflict in a Job 1n the end however jew ton s chief legacy May be to pave the Way for another nominee to attain the nation s highest office without most people caring whether that entrant is Black