European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 28, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes William Safire a lost look Bock of the democratic convention can the soul of a party be discerned in its convention speeches will Michael Dukakis Ever break himself of beginning sentences with i m the sort of Guy. And ending them with ". Is All about let s keynote theme was warmed Over Mario Cuomo with a southwestern twang populist resent ment at malefactors of great wealth. Oozing scorn the Silver haired Ann Richards excoriated the Likely re publican nominee As poor George. He Cain t help it. He was born with a Silver foot in his Mouth a one liner that was being peddled for the previous two weeks by Washington wags and pushed hard by the red capped democratic bite Richards did not sink quite As Low As Jimmy Carter interviewed in the Gwinnett daily news who scraped political Bottom by characterizing vice president Bush As kind of when Lloyd Bentsen subsequently gushed to Carter the american people miss you even Loyal democrats winced but the Keynoter showed in her speech that she had Learned the Art of the Kennedy nod. Democratic speech coaches have taken up the Ken Nedy nod this year watch for it. The speaker gets off a one liner Waits for applause and nods when it comes As if to say you got it. Yeah. I approve of your approx Kennedy himself demonstrated he is still the Best inside the Hall speech Reader in american politics. He plays More to the crowd in the convention Hall Jim Anderson than to the camera enunciating clearly gesturing confidently. His where was George series of lines praising president Reagan for admitting a mistake and contrasting that with Bush s dissociation with policy errors was deft oratory exploiting a vulnerability diminished Only by the device s use the previous Day by rep. Tony Coelho. The Jesse Jackson appearance was not so much a set speech As an emotional cathartic a historic occasion to Mark the passage of a generation since Black delegates were denied rightful representation. The speech was paced like a concerto the first movement established the Lead theme of party Unity to overcome what some of his followers consider the surrender on peach tree Street the second movement changed the mood by dipping into the no nos of this convention mentioning certain tax increases to come and reasserting his bid for leadership of the third world but skipping the paragraph in the prepared copy about a palestinian state the third movement was intensely personal using his life experience to inspire All those who Start with nearly nothing. Sometimes he was Subtle the Praise of Michael Dukakis mind and steel nerves was intended to emphasize a Lack of heart. At other times he was heavy handed the Power of the line directed to the Handi capped i would rather have Roosevelt in a wheel chair than Reagan on a horse was vitiated and its rhythm broken by the strained interjection of and Bush into the derogation. The Jackson speech was More powerful on to Luvison than in the Hall. By cutting to tear stained faces for reaction shots television directors intensified the per Sonal Impact on individuals More passive or worried onlookers who made up the other half of the audience were not represented on screen. To fully appreciate the Impact of the moment you had to not be there. That contributed to Why much of the press was not As bowled Over and wrung out by the speech As Many of the viewers. This was a speech whose main elements have been shaped and honed on the Road we were listening to Jesse s greatest hits the passages and metaphors that proved effective for months and years from your Patch in t big enough to they work every Day to i this speech was not written it was grown and the loth time listener was not so moved by the speaker s voice breaking at the same Points. The Dukakis acceptance speech stole a bit from Cuomo s evocation of the work ethic of his father reached Back for the american dream wonderment that led Richard Nixon to speak of the Railroad whistle in the night Drew on the for i see an America where. Vision and recalled John Kennedy s Call for unspecified sacrifice. I m the sort of Guy who appreciates that sort of speech because that s what Campaign oratory is All about. The new York times Shultz making most of his Opportunity to travel in the last month George Shultz s travels around the world passed the million mile Mark making him the most peripatetic Secretary of state in his tory. Shultz who returned to Washington on monday after finishing a three week East Asia swing changed his shirt and was ready to head off five Days later on a 12-Day trip to Central and South Ameri Ca. Returning briefly to Washington Shultz is then scheduled to go to the Middle East for the fifth time this year alone after which he will go to Europe at least once More. And that does t count Side trips to new Orleans for the Republican National convention and new York for the . General Assem Bly. More than half his summer will be spent on the Road piling up the mileage in the Blue and White military version of the Boeing 707 he uses for most of his trips. Shultz clearly believes that travel is important. One of the three times that he Flora Lewis submitted his resignation to president Reagan was because a Middle level Rea appointee in the White House Jona than Miller vetoed Shultz s use of the air Force plane for routine trips. Miller used his bureaucratic veto be cause he Felt it was extravagant for Shultz to use the four engine plane for such trips As the one he makes to Augusta ga., every year the weekend after the masters Golf tournament to play the course. Shultz won Miller lost. The president asked Shultz to retract the resignation and Miller was fired for reasons that were related to his role in the Covert financing of the Contra forces. No More problems with Shultz getting the plane when requested. In philosophical moments aboard the plane Shultz has described his View that face to face Contact in diplomacy is important especially if his foreign hosts Are actively seeking his presence to discuss an Issue. A former labor mediator Shultz believes that the real bargaining takes place within the two governments concerned and not Between the governments. Thus arms control agreements become Possi ble when the top leadership on the soviet Side is Able to convince the people within its own defense establishment that an arms pact is desirable and Safe the same process takes place within the american government. By seeing the other country s team in action Shultz can detect where the prob Lem lies and help his counterpart con Vince the people in the other govern ment. That s one reason Shultz likes to travel. Another is that he and his wife obie genuinely like to see the world. It must be noted that travel for the Secretary of state has become increasingly presiden tial even Imperial during this administration. This can partly be explained by in creasing concern about Security by the state department which has beefed up All of its diplomatic Security functions. Shultz travels in a cocoon of Security and luxury that would not have been imaginable or acceptable in the Carter administration. Shultz after six years on the Job has clearly emerged As the uncontested administration foreign policy Leader Given the president s somewhat detached Pas Sive role in International relations. In effect he is treated As a surrogate american president by other foreign governments. When he s travelling overseas he s not being nibbled to death by end less congressional delegations. This quasi presidential Aura must he Gratifying to a Man who has a healthy sized ego which has not grown smaller in the Job and with an equally healthy sized sense of patriotism which has also grown in his six years at the state department. Shultz likes the attention he likes the respect and he appears to like the ability to speak directly and forcibly for his country. And then there s the consideration that whoever wins in november some body else is going to become Secretary of state and Shultz goes Back to flying Busi Ness class. United press International National sovereignty giving Way to realism the pious principles of National sovereignty and non intervention have never been absolute except in oratory. They did serve though to provide certain standards in a disorderly world and afford arguments for the weak against the Strong. Now they Are eroding not just because of greed and cynicism but because of hard facts of interdependence. The old ideas Are getting in the Way of adjustments needed by the weak at least As much As the Strong. The clearest understanding of How stubborn clinging to sovereignty can undermine National capacity has come in Western Europe with a new spurt of enthusiasm for Unity at the Cost of National prerogatives. West Germany s Otto Vonlambsdorf has said bluntly that National sovereignty is an anachronism which causes governments to lose Power to narrow internal interests. Just ask the Farmers of Northern Bavaria and Japan whose demands help Block any rational approach to agricultural Trade. The economist of London has come to favor a Monnet sized Europe a common currency for the european Community that it appealingly chooses to name after Jean Monnet father of the common mar Ket. It Points out that that would t be enough however since losing the Sovereign Power to print Money could cause severe social problems unless members also accept harmonious economic policies. But even As the old Powers that invented the idea of nation states Are finding it obsolete the world has filled up with new states determined to assert this right of dubious value. Because Many Are scarcely viable they Are inevitably dependent on outsiders. The Pride of Flag ambassador and vote which the . Accords them has obscured the Handicap. Those symbols of sovereignty Don to after All bring development. That takes interdependence. In the same Way intervention is changing meaning because of the impossibility of keeping a country immune to outside influence except As impoverished Hermit states like Albania and Burma. It has Long been a two edged word More an expression of political Bias than of principle. When the greek colonels made their coup in 1967, opponents called on the . To Cut Aid which support ers said would be intervention. The . Did nothing which opponents said served to Back the colonels and constituted intervention. Some spaniards filipinos koreans accuse the . Of intervention for having dealt with governments in Power instead of acting to gel rid of dictators. 1 be . Could have great Power in selecting government leaders. Fair elections would be certified. Silence would resound. The old precepts of International relations Are being overtaken by the real world of inevitable ties. New York times
