European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 22, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes Ellen Goodman both candidates treating voters like dummies i grew up in an Era when the most profound political thought was i like so t never expected a presidential Campaign to be like a graduate class in Good government. But after the Back to Schoot 1988 Campaign. I know How teachers feel when they get some new and simpler set of textbooks. What we Are witnessing is the dumping Down of politics. Forgive me if 1 reject the polite school jargon. This Campaign in t special nor is it even simple minded is too kind a word. It has be come just Plain dumb. Consider what we be been laugh so far that civics is solely a matter of pledging allegiance to the Flag. That his tory is a matter of opinion one Side can blame every problem on the "10s, the of her on the 80s. That math is some thing to be manipulated you can add to the budget and subtract from the deficit. The Bush Campaign has had a heavier hand in the dumping Down pro Cess. In Bush s class you Don t have to Bethe brightest Hoy to be the teacher s pet. Danny Quayle was already proof of that. Bui now Bush who cannot parse a sen tence and Quayle who Speaks in Ger manic word order it is an Issue that 1 have not spent thus far a great Deal of time on Are trying to reduce the Campaign to a patriotic pop quiz. As for history the vice president mis places More than Pearl Harbor Day. His Ico Graphy class has maps that put Brook Tine mass., in the soviet Union and that cover up Iran. His Best English compositions Are by speech writer Peggy Noonan. His worst Are a Litany of snide in Bush s advanced economics class on taxes All he asks is that we read his lips. This Man wants to be the education president Dukakis for his pad looks shall shocked by this Streak of silliness. But he Loo has been warned against sounding proc Sonal. Instead he has sounded elementary Lead ing drills in the american dream and re Frains about Good jobs at Good he is now urged to up up his Dukes by lower Anthony Lewis Inglis sights. In this Long term dumping Down pro Cess All the pictures get bigger while the texts gel smaller. The i98b presidential Campaign is a Cross Between a comic strip and a video. Bush goes to Disney world Dukakis to Ellis Island. Balloons abound. The analysis Grade campaigns and debates As if they were mtg awards one Point for concept another for Spe Cial effects a third for choreography and the ultimate for viewer s Choice. Is there anyone to blame for such Politico sliding surely Reagan had a role. It was More than a slip of the Tongue when he told the top convention that facts Are stupid Reagan s campaigns convinced a generation of handlers that the most successful candidate is the one who says the least of substance. Few of us thought that elections would or could actually deteriorate in the Posl Gipper Era. But this year it is considered Brave and downright sky when a candidate goes specific in one Way or another everyone has played a part in the downward spiral. The Media do not go into a feeding flurry Over economics or disarmament. We do not dog the candidates in their driveways until they swe Atily explain How they would reduce the deficit. The networks geared tothe attention Span of sesame Street viewers Are easily manipulated even As they report on their manipulation. As for the voters we arc told that the legions of advisers do nol go broke under estimating them. Negative advertising works. If Otere find it hard to sort Oul messages they choose an image. We have settled into a pattern of responses nearly As simplistic As last week s wave of Boos. My Hope is that this Campaign lbs Bot Tomed out. Surely if the Public were to raise hands the question we would ask is How How would the next president lower the deficit live in peace manage families and work secure the Turet please give us More than a sound bile or a hint. The next set of grades will be Oul in november. The most important newsman not be which Man passed and which failed but How Many More voters once and for All dropped out. Wynn to Poal Wal tit group race is dirty Little secret in 1988 Campaign class it has been said is the dirty Little secret of american society in the 1988 presidential Campaign race is the dirty Little secret a highly significant Factor that no one mentions out loud. To say it right out while fears have a Good Deal to do with George Bush s Strong showing while fears and while feelings Aboul the democratic party s commitment to Blacks. Race is a pre eminent Factor in the South. Ii also matters greatly in Many Northern cities. William Schneider the eminent political analyst at the american Enterprise Institute in Washington put it bluntly when 1 asked him about the significance or race in this Campaign. Someone asked me recently he said what groups Michael Dukakis was having the most trouble with. 1 thought for a moment and answered while Schneider sees much recent history behind gov. Dukakis trouble with White voters. It goes Back to the democratic party s transforming commitment to jus Tice for Blacks after decades As the party of while supremacy in the South. La was Only during the 1960s that the democrats decisively endorsed civil rights he said the Ken Nedy and Johnson years. You could Trace it Back to John Kennedy s Telephone Call to Corella King whener. King was jailed during the 1960 Campaign and later the civil rights legislation. I m not going to say the democrats made a mistake when they committed the party to civil rights the most decisive commitment they have made on any Issue in 25 years Bui Ever since Ihnn the party has suffered because of the race Issue. By 1964 George Wallace was running in the demo cratic presidential primaries and showing the politics of racial resentment in the North. After 1964 the democrats carried the South Only in 1976, with a Southern or Carter As the candidate and even then White southerners were for Ford. The two groups where the democrats have lost the most Voles since the 1960s Are Southern Whites and Northern ethnic vice president Bush has nol appealed to racial feelings in any direct Way in the Campaign. But he has sent signals that resonate among White voters. The clearest signal has been his attack on gov. Dukakis Over the Case of Willie Horton a convicted Mur Derer who was let out of a Massachi Scols prison on a weekend furlough fled and raped a woman in Mary land. Dukakis bad nothing to do personally with Lei Ling Horton out and the furlough program was set up by his Republican predecessor. Bui the Bush Campaign s Dice Plovc attack on him was highly effective. Willie Horton happens to be Black. There he was in the Bush television ads night after night. The message did not have to be More explicit Dukakis stands for softness toward threatening Black criminals. But Schneider sees race As a broader political Factor underlying the so called social issues. Crime gun control Law and order the whole Agenda originated in the racial polarization of the late 1960s Black Power violence the perceived failure of the Greal society. And Bush uses the social issues to define Dukakis As a 1960s Liberal. The fear of crime originated in racial fear. In some places Chicago notably few of crime u Mso cited with fear of domination by Blacks. The More White ethnics there see the democratic party dominated by Blacks the More they Are afraid. I Don t argue that Bush is running strongly because he is a racist. He is nol a racist. But there u a racial another Point is thai Blacks Are More dependent than any other group on Federal help and Whites lend to resell that. The Reagan cub in do Mesic spending 111 those feelings. Now Schneider says the Pyrc Eption is thai Bush is for the Reagan Agenda so Fie nol for to say i Host things and a column can Only touch this deeply serious subject is to know jul much More is involved than Campaign politics. A report just issued by the Center on budget and policy priorities in Washington spells out what we Al know Hal i economic Gap Between Black and while american families is widening. The movement a to Ward two nations separate and unequal. With the politics of racial resentment and fear still so powerful How is our democracy to Deal with prob ice Fiat menaces us while and Black we All live in the same country
