European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 25, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars  stripes David Broder democrats carve away at potential policies vow to of � fat to t we it Kyj. Without much doubt the most pregnant parenthesis floating around Washigton is the title on the cover of a background paper the office of sen. Edward m. Kennedy d-mass., gives reporters who inquire what he sup to these Days. Kennedy initiatives it says. Doing More without spending much  the Kennedy parenthesis captures the tone congressional democrats Are taking As they search for the Best Way to Advance their political  policy agendas inthe altered atmosphere of George Bush s Washington. Ron Brown the newly chosen chairman of the demo cratic National committee has made it abundantly Clear in his first round of speeches  interviews that he is not foolish enough to attempt to Lay Down the policy line for his party. So it seemed to make sense to Check in with Kennedy the grading Dean of the democratic activists  with two of the younger men who tried for the presidential nomination in 1988  presumably will again sen. Albert Gore jr., of Tennessee  rep. Dick Gep Hardt of Missouri. Alphabetically  in Brief outline Here s what the have on their minds. Gephardt now freed from running the House democratic caucus  competing in the Iowa caucuses is funnelling his excess Energy into writing a Book  learning japanese the latter an activity methinks a lot More american students  businessmen should be pursuing. After visiting Japan  other Pacific rim countries last fall he believes three times As strongly As i did in the Campaign that America is on the backside of the Slippery slope when it comes to the International economic Competition. Speaker Jim Wright a Texas has named Gephar Thead of the House democratic task Force on Trade  competitiveness. Wearing that hat he s working on legislation to reorganize the Way the Federal govern ment deals with those issues. He also wants to bloc Bush s proposed Cut in capital gains tax rates  in Stead use the tax code to punish wasteful mergers  financial  on the stump that translates to an old fashioned populist pitch we have to fight for economic Justice. Take charge of our own economic  Gore who has no significant opponent yet for his1990 re election race in Tennessee is thinking globally too. While Gephardt was in the Pacific Gore Spost election travels took him to Antarctica  the Amazon rain forests. He returned with what he mod Estly terms the world environment policy act whose provisions relate to such things As the Regula Tion  phase out of anthropogenic emissions  the conservation of biodiversity,." George f. Will these Are not Tongue tripping mind freezing concepts to the senator from Tennessee who is at his most animated when describing the potential of building National fiber optics network to link supercomputers. It All sounds faintly Buck Roerish to someone of my generation but you quickly learn that Gore is driven by the same concern As Gephardt How we gear our selves for the International competitive Challenge. That fiber optic networking of supercomputers Gore says will let us leapfrog  meantime he has also done a Load of work on concept that s attracted a Good Deal of Republican in Terest expanding the earned income tax credit essentially a family allowance to boost the working poor beyond the poverty line  keep them there with broader child care credits As Well. Ending the anomaly of the working poor is also atop priority for Kennedy the prime sponsor of the minimum wage increase Bill supported by Gore Gep Hardt  almost All democrats. Kennedy would  guarantees for health care  Day care have the Feder Al government move aggressively to boost mothers off welfare  share the savings with states As a Way of financing More Job training. Kennedy also has an ambitious education Agenda ranging from smart Start ugh his plan for expanding head Start to literacy programs to tax break for College savings plans. Two things struck me about the three men s  have their roots in traditional democratic values a concern for working  but the approach is Dif Ferent. Each one clearly requires specific Effort from the people being helped study training Job seeking work saving or some combination of All four. Almost All of them emphasize a diversity of approaches using states localities or the private sector. They fit within the Kennedy parenthesis because no much of the spending would come directly from the Federal Treasury  the Washington bureaucratic superstructure would be relatively Small in most cases. Of  one other thing is striking. None of the three is talking about raising taxes to pay for their proposals. In that they Are no different from the republicans. Washington Post the games people play in mixed up Chicago 17 i a 1 ill it t to re v�1/%�/ in saw so a iivl4 a my aA_n1  _ t 1 .1 _ _ the Chip off the old Block is compactly built but does not look As dad did like something that walked no stalked away from stonehenge. An mayor Richard j. Daley was never called As the son is Richie. Things Are these things Are relative almost mellows Chicago prepares for its mayoralty primary next tuesday. The political machine  much else in that it once was. In Ward just s new political novel Jack Gance character recalls the description of Prussia As less a state with an army than an army with a state. Not Long ago Chicago was a machine with a City. But in this year . 13 mayor Daley died in december 1976 the machine or As much As remains of it is in the hands of the incumbent mayor Eugene Sawyer 53.that makes Richie Daley 46, the Reform candidate. If Daley wins the primary Chicago will become the firs Large City to elect a White mayor after having elected a Black mayor. In 1983, Richie Daley helped make Harold Washington Chicago s first Black mayor. Daley entered the democratic primary against mayor Jane Byrne split Ting the White vote. When Washington died after re election in 1987, Timothy Evans a Black Alderman who had been Washington s Captain in the City Council was backed by Jesse Jackson in his bid to be elected mayor by the Council. But Sawyer backed by a few Black aldermen  most of the White ones won in Anear riot during which he fainted. Today Jackson is supporting Sawyer in the  if Daley wins Jackson May support Evans the candidate of the Harold Washington party in the april 4 general election. Jackson  some other Blac politicians Are encouraging Black voters to regard the mayor s office As a racial entitlement. Meanwhile although the republicans have designated a candidate another Guy wants in. Edward fast Eddie Vrdolyak former Cook county democratic chairman who recently turned Republican is mount ing a write in Campaign for the Republican Nomi nation. That could Drain enough White ethnic voters from the democratic primary to Cost Daley a close election. The Daley Sawyer race is close. The City is approximately 40 percent White  40 percent Black conceivably Vrdolyak could win the Republican nomination setting up a Dodge City general election be tween him the Symbol of White hostility to Harold Washington  two Black candidates Sawyer  Evans. A Republican mayor not Likely. The game being played by politicians Are stirring fewer passions than in recent elections because citizens Are increasingly serious. Chicago is somewhat healthier politically because it is becoming sicker socially. The City government s budget has grown As City population has declined. The City s solvency depends on retaining  attracting Job creating  tax paying businesses. That is becoming desperately difficult be cause of what most people recognize As the most important Issue the disastrous condition of Chicago s Public school system. The system is 60 percent Black 24 percent  percent of the students flunk at least two major courses a year. Almost half do not graduate. Half the65 High schools Are in the Bottom one yes one percent of . Schools in student performance on the american College test act. The average High school graduate seeking a Job reads at the level of an average american eighth grader. One fourth of these graduates read at the sixth Grade average. A Bank reports that three quarters of the applications for entry level jobs cannot fill out the Job application form. A machine shop finds few applicants who know How Many 16ths there Are in an Inch. This City of Broad shoulders is not stacking wheat anymore. It is increasingly a City of nimble fingers on computer terminals. Many new jobs Are in financial services. Chicago businesses Are at the breaking Point in their ability to compete while building in the Cost of doing what the schools do not do teaching skill suited to today s work place. When William Bennett was . Secretary of Educa Tion he called Chicago s schools the worst in the nation. Are they everyone knows that says Daley. He still lives two blocks from his father s House in the near South Side neighbourhood where his Mother sister brother  Many friends from grammar school  High school still live. His politics like his slightly Doughy shape Lack Edge As do the politics of  Are not divisive men. That is Good because behind the gleaming lakefront Chicago is caught in a dynamic of decline. The next mayor Chicago has had five in 13 years is going to bump against the Sharp shards of a fractured City. Washington Post