European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 4, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday october 4, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary David Brode Democrat hopefuls running on ambition Only just Donkey Nixe win Weid of life. Democratic presidential candidates Are popping up almost daily it seems and the summer columns suggesting that no one would be Brave enough to Challenge president Bush look pretty silly in retrospect. We should have known ambition is the one thing that is never in Short Supply in our politics. That is the theme of one of the most original and entertaining studies of the current political system to appear this year Alan Ehrenhalt a Book the United states of ambition. A longtime writer and editor at congressional quarterly Ehrenhalt was smart enough to realize that most political analysis has been too focused on the makeup of the electorate and the mood of the voters. The Assumption that the customers demands shape the kind of government we get seems plausible. But it is a limited perspective. Ehrenhalt offers an alternative Supply Side theory entered on the character of the men and women who run for office. Years ago Milton Rakove wrote a wonderful Book about the Chicago democratic machine called we done to want nobody that nobody sent. The title came from the Rebuff a Ward Boss gave a Young Man who showed up offering to work in a Chicago Campaign without a letter of recommendation from his precinct Captain. It captured the essence of a closed political system in which you had to be vouched for even to get your foot in the door. When Ehrenhalt asks a who sent these candidates we see nowadays a the answer is obviously that they nominated themselves for the Honor of running. That is True of every single one of the men now seeking the democratic presidential nomination. Every one of them is in the race primarily because of his own ambition. None represents a cause or constituency. None has an Issue or a faction he can Call his own. Each is a self propelled political missile. Lest this be thought simply a reflection on these democrats please note As Ehrenhalt is careful to do that George Bush was in no Way different when he began his Pursuit of the presidency Back in 1979. He was an out of office politician who had never been elected to anything outside a Houston congressional District. But it did no to keep him a any More than it does the current crop of democratic challengers a from imagining himself climbing to the top of the Greasy pole. A the skills that work in american politics at this Point in history a he writes a Are those of entrepreneurship. People nominate themselves. That is they offer themselves As candidates raise Money organize campaigns create their own publicity and make decisions for themselves. Candidates do not win because they have party support. They do not win because they have business or labor support. They win because they Are motivated to set out on their own and find the votes in this kind of politics traits that once were important a experience credentials loyalty to the party or cause the ability to work with others a count Tor very Little. Independence is an asset. So is articulate Ness because you have to convince people of your own merits. But what matters most Are time and Energy and ambition a the stamina and the drive to put in the backbreaking hours and Days of work it takes to win office. The demands of campaigning Are huge a and growing a at almost every level. Once someone knocks on 10,000 doors to win a City Council seat no one who wants the Job can do less. Democrats seem to find More such people than do republicans and that May Well explain Why democrats dominate american government at All Levels below the presidency. Ambitious republicans seek their fortunes in business and the professions democrats because they believe in government Are More willing to labor in the political Vineyard even where pay is lower and prestige lacking. Would it be different if there were term limits Ehrenhalt does not address the question but the implied answer is strongly no. Campaigning and politics has become the work of full time professionals and in a High turnover system ambition would become an even More important career propellant. Jimmy Carter fits the term-1 Imit Model one term on the Sumter county school Board two terms in the Georgia state Senate one term As governor and then straight to the White House. Is that what we want ambition already plays too Large a part in our unstructured politics. Without political parties or any other institutions to ask a who sent you a credentials disappear As a criterion for political Success. And government As Ehrenhalt shows often suffers the consequences. C Washington Post writers group George f. Will Boeing Battles Odds in the unfriendly skies americans who look skyward or around airports stateside and abroad see Many products from the Seattle suburb of Renton wash., Home of Boeing a commercial aircraft division. But Boeing a competitive position is under sustained attack by substantial a and illegal a subsidies Given by governments to Airbus Boeing a european competitor. So the Bush administration faces a High stakes test of american willingness and ability to insist effectively on equitable trading practices from the a a mixed economies of our major trading partners. If the test is flunked Many americans May conclude that free Trade is an intolerably expensive fiction particularly when rivals practice surreptitious socialism. The stakes Are enormous. Commercial aircraft Are 77 percent of Boeing a sales. In 1990, when americans merchandise Trade deficit was $ 1 h billion the commercial aircraft sector showed a $16 billion surplus. For the fifth time in 12 years Boeing was americans leading exporter. Today 81 percent of the commercial jets Ever made a 9,100 a Are in service. Between now and 2005, about 9,000 More will be delivered. 30 percent because of retirements 70 percent because of air traffic growth. More than 2,000 air planes Are More than 20 years old. The Market from now until 2005. Averaging 000 planes Worth $41 billion every year will be $615 billion. The worldwide crisis of Airport congestion requires a shift to larger planes. Boeing a 777, to be delivered in 1995, will seat 325 to 440, depending on whether it has three class seating or Al Economy configuration. An option will be fold up Wing tips to accommodate narrow Gate slots. Next there probably will be a super jumbos seating 650, superseding the 747 that has been Boeing a most profitable product. Every time Boeing develops a new aircraft it invests a sum exceeding More than half the company a net Worth. Boeing must finance this from profits and by borrowing against future profits. Two of the three significant commercial aircraft manufacturers Are american a Boeing and Mcdonnell Douglas. Their historical Market shares 19471990, were 56 percent and 21 percent. But Airbus their european competitor has 30 percent of today a Market and a goal of 40 percent by the Middle of the decade. Note that Airbus goal is expressed in terms of Market share not profits. Airbus is a consortium of four companies a French German British and Spanish a constantly receiving substantial Cash a lesions trom their govern ments. Airbus understandably prefers to measure its performance in terms of Cash flow and Market shares. This obscures the extent to which Airbus is a jobs program a technology development project a weapon in an aggressive War targeting an american Industry and even a prestige project for several nations. What Airbus is not is a competitive private Enterprise comparable to Boeing. Airbus is now in its third decade of subsidies estimated bookkeeping is obscure and often secret to total upward of $26 billion. The head of Airbus . Operations exaggerated when he said a if Airbus has to give away air planes we will a but subsidies enable Airbus to ease customers financing and even to produce aircraft for inventory a a a whitetails with no customers insignia. Northwest and America West got cheap Loans from Airbus Loans not even restricted to use in purchasing aircraft but usable As operating funds or for acquiring other airlines. Strict free traders May say Fine if european governments either supported by or deceiving their taxpayers want to sell aircraft below Market prices we should snatch the Windfall and switch to Mami lecturing other things but Tuhcic ate three arguments each sufficient against such passivity in the face of subsidies and political practices contrary to Gatt general agreement on tariffs and Trade rules. First International agreements should not be violated. Second the United states has a National Security interest in the health of the Complex social organism that Boeing has become an organization of Talent that if dispersed would be largely lost. Third even in a world without weapons the commercial aircraft Industry would be a crucial component of americans economic vitality. Airbus arrogant aggression assumes that Gatt enforcement mechanisms Are toothless and gait strictures if any can be stonewalled. Also Airbus knows that . Retaliation May be inhibited by the fact that Boeing needs its european Community customers. Airbus contemptuous illegalities already have Cost America More thank billion in lost markets and jobs. Surely Means can be found to shrink the subsidies. Free Tracie is not solitaire a game at which one can play alone. And the alternative is a Trade War the anus dispute is a suitable occasion Lor America to a what Ami Ica is about some of Chin ii me i 2 1 it it Eais ii inc mean to have War. Let it begin Here
