European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 10, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes William Safire advice of Dukakis ask the forgotten question recently 1 raised an Eyebrow at the Way the Dukakis crowd had used the Job creating credit of the state of Massachusetts to set up a telemarketing operation that then was used to raise Money for the Dukakis Campaign. Share systems of Cambridge was paid $88.205 and its Telephone boiler roomers elicited pledges of $417,529 in the first two months of this year. The sequence from state by the coughed up those figures. In return some advice to the Duke on the televised debates i counter the Republican expectation game. Every one in the Bush Camp is pumping out the line that you arc a world class debater and poor George is a terrified Lamb being led 10 televised Slaughter then when the vice president rips into his oppo nent in the style of his clobbering of Dan rather the audience will be suitably amazed. The Bush Aims arc 1 to reverse the Nixon Kennedy effect when the first joint appearance elevated the challenger in the stature of his More famous opponent and 2 to diminish your performance even it it edges Oul the vice presidents by measuring it against inflated expectations. You cannot respond to this by professing to be just As bad a debater As Bush who lest we forget claimed after his 1984 debate to have kicked a Little Donkey. Your answer should ring with ridicule. Did David Broder Goliath go around telling the boys on the bus How seared he was of David s Slingshot Appeal to the Media by exposing the heavy handed pm do cloning we hate to be seen being manipulated. 2. Drop your insistence on having the first debate an foreign and defense affairs the next on Domestic Mil ters. The Bush Camp knows you need quickly to establish your foreign affaire and defense Bona fides it realizes you could dazzle everyone with conventional defense foot work and multilateral is toughness in a single debate thereby overcoming your inexpert 111 problem. The Bush negotiators Are not going to fall for your insistence on a pure foreign policy debate. Don i rive them an excuse to walk away from the whole debate Deal which front running incumbents always want to do. 3. If Yon ire squeezed into a Low Sels in use Lemon make demographic lemonade. Bush is Angling for a Small audience by arranging the debates during the olympics or world series or football games. If you must accede remember that your audience will then be skewed toward women and you will have the Chance to exploit his gender Gap. You cannot do this with your murky child care Posi Tion endorsing sen. Dodd s centralized standards in concept White Bush presents his attractive alternative o pay off grandma and to Reward the poor for having kids. If women Are your targets make them specific child care promises. Blast his scheme As a last minute sellout of Middle class mothers tout yours As the answer to Cnoc and drugs and a permanent underclass. 4. Don t let them stand you on Box. Every photographer in the world wants the picture of you trying to dose the six Inch stature Gap they la be crawling behind the stage to shoot any hidden podium or . Cross pm up by lowering your lectern. Quote James Madison who was not too Short to father the Constitution confess to having exaggerated your height i suspect that your claim of 5-Fooi-8 on your Driver s License is a Barefoot lie and keep evoking David and Goliath with Slingshot parties to watch to. On the other hand do something about padding your shoulders which slope like a Laffer curve under a barrage of tax increases Only your tailor will know 5. Neer lose sight of the forgotten question. What Ever the subject come Back to the double barrelled blast the Bush forces dread most Why did you advise the president to pay arms Ransom to the Ayalp llah and Why Aren t you Man enough to admit having urged Ronald Reagan to commit what turned out to be the worst Blunder of his life no matter How often he dunks you in the pollution of Boston Harbor or How unfairly he impugn your patriotism with the pledge Issue or How difficult it is for you to decide on a Mobile missile to facilitate arms reduction or How inept your staff is in exploiting the anniversary that Falls on oct. 19 keep your Eye on the forgotten question. It could make All the differ ence in the first debate 1 feel perfectly Safe in offering this Good advice. You will consider the source Mike and let it go by. Reagan s line gave Bush Campaign momentum everyone has his own theory about what Trig gered the Republican comeback now reflected in All the polls but i know the exact instant when n crossed my mind that George Bush and his party might Over come what is probably the biggest Barrier to their presidential Victory in november. It was Early in the evening of monday aug. 15, in new Orleans when Reading the Advance text of president Rea Gan s speech to the Republican National convention four words jumped off the Page we Are the  for a year or More virtually every Republican strategist had wrestled with the Cycle problem. Only seven limes in american history and never in the last 40 years have the voters chosen to give one party More than two consecutive terms in the White House. Even with the country at peace and most peo ple enjoying a degree of Prosperity the pol � Werc showing substantial majorities wanting new policies and leadership rather than continuity. Bush in every interview i had with him during 1987 and the first half of 1988, denied that reality insisting that he saw no evidence of such restlessness. That Blind spot struck me As potentially fatal. Belatedly he sought 10 respond to the Patent desire for change by staking Oul specific but limited differences with Reagan in such areas As education the environment and Day care where he look a modestly More activist stance. He also pronounced himself slightly More sep tical of Boih Mikhail Gorbachev and the strategic de sense initiative sd1. These modest distinctions from Reagan s policies scarcely captured the voters imaginations but now Reagan has Slown Bush a belter Way to escape from the cyclical dilemma. The we arc the change line. White House officials say came from Reagan himself. Two months ago when Bush was still hesitating to stake out any new policy ground for fear of being though disloyal to his Patron Reagan told one while House visitor George should be saying it s Lime for a change " improving on that phrasing Reagan told inc convention now we hear talk from the democrats that it s time for a change. Well ladies and gentlemen another Friendly reminder we arc the  note the verb Lens. Not we were the change because that would imply that Republican innovation was a thing of the past. Not we will bring change Etc Audi Llic out party always seems the More plausible vehicle of future change. Just we arc the change with the pc sent Lens verb incorporating credit for past changes and the implicit suggestion that change Atli continue. Reagan fleshed it out by citing a selective list of changes he has brought emphasizing tax Cut Job growth inflation reduction bul not budget deficits or Trade imbalances and overseas his familiar Litany of successes from Grenada of Afghanistan climaxing in the  arms treaty. To cinch the argument he pointed out thai virtually All of this change occurred and continues to occur in Spile of the resistance of those Liberal elites who loudly proclaim that it s time for a  set Ting aside Reagan s pejorative language he is telling the truth when he says that Over the last seven plus years most democrats opposed As most republicans supported his controversial tax budget and defense policies and his ideological judicial appointments. Thus in his telling. Republicans Are the agents of change democrats the barriers to change. With that premise Bush has gone out to convince the volts that he will continue the Reagan change and in these past two weeks he has done a Good Job of stealing the democrats franchise. How does Michael Dukakis respond he can do so effectively it seems Clear Only if he is willing to do something he has so far resisted present clearly and honestly his analysis of Llic Reagan administration s legacy and the policy changes he believes the limes require. That Means he has to give Reagan credit where cred it is due something he has been very reluctant to do. If he accepts present tax Rales and defense outlays As appropriate which he seems to do Ihen he ought to acknowledge the Man who brought the former Down and the latter up to where they arc now and do so convincingly enough that Volen will understand he Means to leave them undisturbed. Then he has to say clearly what parts of the inc Reagan revolution he would seek to halt or reverse judicial appointments offer an obvious Opportunity. Instead of arguing defensively about his obedience to a stale supreme court advisory opinion on inc Recita Tion of the pledge of allegiance Why does Dukakis not offer his critique of Reagan s appointments to uie fed eral Bench and Tell the volts what kind of men and women he would prefer he won t please everyone of course. But. The lesson Dukakis can take from Reagan s Success is that the voters value Candor and Confidence in a candidate who dons the Mantle of  Reagan never shied from Hal Challenge in 1980. If Dukakis Means to win in 19bb, he must do no less c Wuh Nylon poll Wrils Ioup