European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 16, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stabs and stripes columns Mike feins1lber race just one hurdle Jackson must overcome he has Charisma. He has issues. He does t hip Flop. And. Tic has a Bustle of relates. If Jevc Jackson were White would he win the democratic presidential nomination if he were White he would t be in the race jays Ben i. Wallenberg a scholar Al the american enter prise Institute and co editor of Public opinion mag Amine. Wallenberg argues a Black could be elected presi Dent in inc America of 1 988, hut not one with Jack son s Lack of office holding experience or his blame America. First business bashing Midi Calis. If Jackson were White i think he d be  says Howard University political science professor Ronald wallers who was Jackson s Deputy Campaign manager in 1 984 and is the author or a new Book Black presidential politics in  wallers says Jackson s experience in the Civit rights movement is More than equal to service in legislative Halls and he Lias a nol to be discounted electrifying Quality. Charisma say what you will it Stilt counts in politics he says. Just Alc Ranald  network polls said Jackson won Between 8 percent and 10 percent of the White vote in the South twice As much As four Yean ago. Despite Hii showing the conventional Wisdom has been that whim won i Vole for a Black candidate in sufficient numbers to elect a Black president. Jackson performance reopens the debate about whether a race based Barrier actually a lists. He himself acknowledges the Handicap. In Campaign speeches he tiles an apocryphal conversation Between two hard hit Farmers in Iowa. One says o the other he likes j action s message and politics but declares Jackson "1 want those people to move from Bui to therefore " some surveys show i percent to 20 Perchm of the population would reject any Black on racial grounds. I is probably higher says Robert Smith professor of afro american politics at Howard University. Who nonetheless believes the positions Jackson takes arc a Handicap As substantial As that of raw. I would say he would not be nominated or elected if he were while he says. A substantial number of White persons who object to Jackson do so More be cause of his ideology than his  agrees Al Thornton Jackson s Maryland issues director it May j Usi be that any Liberal would have a problem gelling  but Paul Peterson director of the Center for the study of american government says whenever an candidate has enthusiastic support within the Black Community it is going to Coil him support within sectors of the White  Vermont gov. Madeleine Kunin who supports Michael Dukakis Tor the nomination says Jackson s Lack of office holding experience makes him Uncle Lable but Bernard Sanders the socialist mayor of burling ton vi., refuses to Rule Jackson out As the democratic nominee or As the november Winner. To my mind Sanders says the major impediment n Jackson s Campaign now is nol the racial Issue but the class Issue. Because he is speaking up Tor poor people and working people of All colors he is nol gel Ling the financial support Bat other candidates can gel from corporations and wealthy  Joseph Grandmaison democratic chairman in new Hampshire believes the disadvantage Jackson suffers from race is offset by inc loyally of his natural constituency. Look at super tuesday 25 percent of the voters could immediately identify Wilh him i Grandmaison says. I think hat s Cood it s healthy he say and he compares Jackson s gains front race to he loyalty americans of recent ethnic origin feel toward Dukakis son of greek immigrant. Wattenberg says Jackson is simply too Radi Cal for America. Jesse Jackson went to Cuba and said Viva Che Guevara praising a Man who dedicated his life to the Export of communism to South and latin America Wallenberg says. Had any other politician in Ameri can life Ever said anything like that he might have been scandalized and drummed out of the  Wallenberg says he regards Jackson As a political  he says a Black candidate with the political skills of a Jackson and inc moderate positions of Tom Bradley the Black mayor of los Angl it who narrowly missed being elected governor of California would surely get the  i m not saying there is no racism in America we Al know there a Waltenberg say. Bui the right Candi Date could Deal with  William Buckley Dukakis needs to get some fax facts straight the following Exchange Between candidate Richard Gephardt and candidate Michael Dukakis was reported in the Chicago Tribune on March. Are you proud of Hal vote Dukakis to Gephardt on the 19b1 tax reduction for which Gephardt had voted yes or no i m proud to lower taxes by two thirds on people earning $50,000 and below said Gephardt. You bet i  even though i resulted in the Mas Sive deficit insisted Dukakis turn ing this nation from the largest creditor nation in the world into the largest debtor creating most of the Trade problems you be been talking about for the past several months and opening up loopholes for the wealthy that even David Stockman said was pigs feeding at the trough arc you ready 1. Federal revenues did Noldi minish Between 1980 and 1987 notwithstanding that there were cuts of More than 50 percent in marginal ill Rales. Not even gov. Dukakis can plausibly maintain that a tax Cul can cause an increase in Federal Spe Dingas a Percy foliage of gnk what happened right after the lax Cut of 1951 was a Sharp Rise in Federal spending caused in part by a great re cession this was the Post drier re cession. When Carter left office. Inter est Rales were at z1.5 percent inflation at 12 percent. By inc time the recession was Over two years later interest Rales were Down to 11 percent inflation to 4 percent. In 1982, president a cajun called for spending that would have amounted to 21.8 percent of Gnu. Congress spent23.8 percent of Gnu a higher percentage owing in part to the recession. That difference 2 percent of Gnu contributed hugely to a deficit of 4.1percent. In 1986, Reagan proposed spending 19 percent of Gnu. Actual spending was 23.8 percent of Gnu. The deficit As a percentage of Gnu came to 5.3 percent. 2. On the matter of the . Stand ing in the International economic Community the Federal debt is a deplorable Large 56 percent of our cup. But before Cov. Dukakis decides that we Are uniquely irresponsible he should look around. Canada s debt is 69 per cent of in Gnu. Italy s ii 89 percent. Japan s is 91 percent. Sweden s is 69percent. Belgium s it 123 percent. 3. No one in any recognized eco nomic zoo has maintained that the 19ri Tan reductions had the Elf feel of creating a Trade imbalance. Tax reductions reduce overhead a reduced Over head increases productivity. The Trade deficit is substantially the result of economic stagnation in Western Europe and for four years in Japan the reordering of the . Economy lower inflation and interest Rales lower taxation caused . Nef in vestment abroad to collapse from $ 121bttlion in 1982 to 124 billion in 1984. Pursuing auspicious economic Circum stances at Home. 4. As regards David Stockman s pig troughs in 1980, under the old tax code the 5 percent of americans who Are the tap earners paid 37.2 percent of All the taxes. In 191, after the two big lat cuts the lop 5 percent arc pay ing 40.9 percent Orall the taxes. Mean while the poorest to percent of families will pay 9.9 percent of inc lasts Down from 6,7 pfc Chi in 1980, Cov. Dukakis did not top to mention ihe13 million extra jobs created since 1980, or to comment on what the distribution of income could look like in heir absence. 1986 was not so Long ago Aslo elude Lite memory entirely. One can understand if in a presidential debate someone slips up and lays that Colum bus sailed the Ocean Blue in 1493, Bui it is Lime to remind ourselves that the main tax Cut in 1986, in effect today was voted unanimously by inc senile finance committee Hal it was de signed 10 be Revenue Neutral but that in fact it has brought in higher taxes from affluent americans Nan had been Ciuc Clad. Paul Simon boasts Al every Opportunity of having been one of the very few senators who voted against that tax Cul. And Vermont is now the sixth consecutive stale that can boat of hav ing rejected Paul Simon As a presiden tial candidate. Michael Dukakis lines Are trickier than Paul Simon a but they amount to the same thing High taxation for such goals As Dukakis dreams up. His Mem Ory is selective enough to decline to remember that the two principal eco nomic events in the recent economic history of Massachusetts that incline the state toward Prosperity the us reductions of his predecessor gov. Edward King and proposition 212 19so were both opposed by Michael Dukakis