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Show THE THUNDERBIRD MONDAY APRIL 4, 1988 PACE 5 Jesse Jackson: Political Ponderable There is a certain symmetry in this place called creation. At this time every year, the swallows return to Capistrano, the winter plague of skiing locusts called Californians begins to subside and the commencing of the baseball season creates a annual divisional race which is being honbred in pantomime this year by the contenders for the Democratic Presidential nomination. The late Dick Howser, former manager of the Kansas City Royals, once observed that it must violate some law of physics that any team manages to win the American League West amid the endearing ineptitude that often marks play in that much maligned division. It would seem that the same principle of Howserian physics is in danger of being violated by the staggering campaign waltzes of the Democratic Presidential candidates. The smoothest footfalls yet observed at this political burlesque are the paradoxical traces of the Rev. Jesse Jackson. The candidacy of Jesse Jackson is the enigma of 1988. Jackson has come to personify voter dissatisfaction with the paltry field of Democratic candidates. As such, he remains the only candidate capable of commanding a nationwide constituency. Jackson would appear to be the only candidate capable of portraying a vision to the Democratic electorate regarding the future course of the party and the nation. When viewed against the drab shufflings of Gov. Michael Dukakis and the regional caperings of Sen. Albert Gore, the fiery oratorical twostep of Jackson would make him appear a Christlike visionary. His message provides a liberal antithesis to the conservatism of the Reagan administration. His message is one of hope, compassion and opportunity. He sees an America that returns to the goal of creating 'The Great Society" that places a priority on social equality and cares for the disadvantaged. In short, the Jackson administration would restore and expand many of the social programs axed under Reagan. However, Jackson represents many issues that have been traditionally rejected by mainstream voters and would be a major liability in the fall. Jackson espouses draconian 10 percent cuts in defense, a withdrawal of U.S. troop commitments to Western Europe and South Korea, a national health insurance program that would heap billions onto the already bloated federal deficit and a foreign policy that embraces Yasir Arafat and Fidel Castro. In addition to his frantically liberal platform, Jackson has alienated the traditional Democratic Jewish constituency with his reference to New York as "Hymietown" in 1984. Further, the Jackson organizational base, the civil rights group PUSH of which he is director, has historically been plagued with disorganization and troubled finances, certainly not a promising record for an aspiring President. It has been only recently that other Democratic candidates have begun to ignore the "sacred cow" status accorded Jackson in the past and have challenged the rather contentious stands that his campaign has taken. Gore began to rip the inconsistencies in the Jackson record only two weeks ago, and it remains to be seen how well Jackson will hold up to this rhetorical drubbing. For all of his problems, Jackson has been able to translate his strong national identity into primary wins and accumulated delegates. It has been projected that Jackson will arrive at the Democratic Convention with over 1,000 delegates. Such a delegate share would, at the very least, give Jackson an irresistable voice in party politics and could make him the irrefutable frontrunner going into the convention. This reality presents a dilemma to the Democratic Party, which would then be faced with the option of nominating a man who would appear incapable of winning the general election or deny him the nomination, due in great part to his race, and turn to someone else. For a party that finds its philosophical roots in the concept of compassion and opportunity for all men, the denial of the nomination to a candidate due to race would be a moral and political disaster for the party and a provocative demonstration of racial inequality in America. The Jackson candidacy represents a challenge to the Democratic Party to affirm its roots as the party of equal opportunity for all. Further, Jackson summons the party back to its liberal traditions and roots. The degree to which the Democrats can cope with this challenge will dictate in large part whether this year's comedic waltz of presidential candidates will turn into the party's dance of death. DR. fl.F. RICH. 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