European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 15, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Sidelight the Best Way for Clinton to do the right thing Clarence Page an open memo to president elect Bill Clinton abcs David Brinkley says you Are not officially a Quot president elect until you arc elected by the electors from each of the states. But since i done to know what else to Call you a president elect elect Ait will have to do. Anyway congratulations. I Hope this message reaches you soon. Your fax machine probably is clogged with Job applications. I seek not a Job Only your car. First congratulations for a Victory that at last has begun what i Hope will be a continuing de Cloriza Tiosh of american presidential campaigns. Since at least the Early �?T60s, Republican candidates have schemed to Divide the Public along lines of racial resentment hoping to seize the biggest chunk. Unfortunately it worked. Not since Robert Kennedy a death in 1968 has a democratic presidential candidate been Able to bring together Quot the Brothers the bub Bahs and the Archie bunkers a As political consultants Call Blacks White southerners and Reagan democrats into a winning coalition in a presidential Campaign. Efforts by democrats Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis to reach working and Middle class Whites were thwarted by the insurgent candidacy of Jesse Jackson who seemed to represent nothing More in the minds of most White voters than a visible threat to their pocketbooks. So needless to say quite a few Blacks whether they like Jackson or not were More than a Little suspicious of your inclinations when you decided to Embarrass Jackson by attacking his Rainbow coalition for giving a forum to a Little known rap artist named sister soul Jah. You seemed a bit Touchy about it too. When at the National association of Blacks journalists Detroit convention i asked you in front of a packed House what plans you had to stroke Black voter registration in Light of that sister soul Jah incident you went ballistic. A a a in a surprised to hear you of All people asking that question considering some of what you be written Quot you said hotly. Indeed 1 had written that you did the right thing. Anyone who seems to Call As soul Jah did for Black youths to kill a few Whites instead of each other deserves to be called to account. So you did no to really have to go on to list the Many cities whose Black communities and local leaders you have enlisted. I knew them already. You did no to even need to finish up with a shot at those who a would criticize me for trying to reach out for the support of All but if you did no to need to Call the Roll for my Benefit maybe you needed to do it for others. The Wisdom of your strategy is in the exit polls. By distancing yourself from Jackson while enlisting the support of a new generation of Black religious and elected officials you have begun to Bridge the bub Bah brother Bunker Gap. You came in at a virtual dead heat with president Bush among White voters. Lyndon Johnson has been the Only democratic presidential candidate since Harry Truman to win a majority of the White vote. According to exit polls conducted for the television networks by voter research amp surveys you both received about 40 percent of the White vote 20 percent of the White vote went to Ross Perot give or take a margin of error of 1.1 percent. Still it is important to remember that although we african americans were Only 9 percent of the total vote 1 enthusiastic percent higher than our 8 percent in 1984, even though Overall turnout was 13 percent higher this year we delivered 82 percent of our votes to you compared to 11 percent for Bush and 7 percent for Perot. African americans made up a healthy chunk of the margin of difference that put a mandate out there for you to claim. So with that in mind a lot of african americans Are asking what is in your Victory for them your conservative critics arc already sounding the alarm of potential a quotas a As if race never entered Bush a mind when he nominated Clarence Thomas to the supreme court. But quotas Are not the Point. Washington a joint Center for political and economic studies a Black oriented think tank found in a major Survey earlier this year that the priorities of Black and White voters were virtually the same jobs and the Economy followed by education and health care. A civil rights ringing truths about the time wasting phone Andy Rooney the following things Are True about the Telephone a no modern invention is at the same time so great a convenience and such a pain in the neck. A some people like the phone others done to. The Best part of some Peoples Day is the time they spend on the Telephone. A most people waste at least half the time they spend talking on it by repeating themselves. There a More of a tendency to say the same thing twice when you re talking on the phone than when you re Eye to Eye with a person. A no modern invention has so consistently failed to live up to its Promise than the Telephone. There have been announcements about the imminent appearance of an attached screen so you can see whom you re talking to for 25 years now but it never comes. Not that i want it. A when someone a Secretary Calls me and says a just a minute please and ill put or. Jones on a i hang up. If or. Jones wants me he can Call me. A a Telephone should be heavy enough so it does no to slide around when you dial with some Force. As you often do when you re in a hurry or mad. A it was easier to remember phone numbers when the first two things you dialled were letters not numbers. Our Exchange in the country used to be you dialled by then five numbers. Now its seven numbers. It does no to have As much character. A More people talk too much than too Little on the Telephone. It can be a sickness. A the cords on most phones Are too Short. I done to know Why they All can to be 20 feet Long and made so they automatically wind up into a Box below the Telephone when you want Only three feet. A the United states has the Best phone system in the world. It was better As a monopoly and at amp Tarbill Clinton after his Triumph. Came in a Distant seventh or eighth. Sure civil rights still have Paramount importance to Black americans but As Martin Luther King or. Used to preach it does no to do Blacks much Good to have the right to cat in a restaurant with Whites if they done to have the Money to pay the Tab. If you follow the track of earlier democrats you run the risk of rewarding with Grants contracts and Cabinet jobs those Middle and upper class individuals who brought you to Power while missing poor folks who need help the most. Fortunately your policies As outlined in your Book with a1 Gore putting people first show you Are not afraid to borrow the policy framework Bush and Reagan outlined but never fully implemented. They include a Potpourri of Enterprise zones resident management of Public housing raising the asset limit for welfare recipients to $10,000 and other Good Community based a empowerment Quot ideas pragmatic Black leaders favor. Also remember your Promise to support statehood for the District of Columbia. A virtually inevitable scan worship for Jackson should please him while the accountability it brings should offend none but the most fervent of republicans. Forget them. They Are not your constituency. Besides it s the right thing to do. Two cadres of advisers with two sets of ideas will Bend your ear. Some will offer remedies along lines of race others along lines of economic need. The Choice is yours. Follow the impulses that won your election. Common sense crosses lines of color. Tbs Chicago Tribune had the exclusive rights to steal. A in be never understood How they come up with phone numbers. Our first phone number in Albany n.y., in the 1920s was 62348 w. What did that mean a at the Lake we had a party line until a few years ago. Its easy to get to hate a neighbor who son the same line if they hog the phone. A almost everyone with an answering machine starts his message by saying a we Arentt Able to come to the phone right what kind of an idiot statement is this do you think that someone about to burglarized your House would think you re not out but Down in the basement doing the laundry a the statement on the answering machine should be simply a please leave a message after the you need to give people that much time to think of something to say although most people think of the right thing to say if they had an hour. A it should be possible to make a Telephone in a shape that could be held no hands Between your ear and your shoulder so you can listen talk and write something Down at the same time. A people like the sound of the Telephone ringing even though its hardly Ever anyone they really want to talk to. Tribune Moda Sor Vicos Andy Rooney is a torpor stars and stripes reporter. November 15, 1992 sunday a Page 9
