July 19, 1988

Reverend Jackson Not Qualified

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Michael Dukakis have kissed and made up - as everyone knew they would after Jackson had. made the ticket nominees sweat a little.

Jackson said he wanted "shared responsibility" and a place on the policy council. Presumably he got some major concession. The rest of the Democrat party, and the nation, would like to know details of the deal that was cut in the smoke-filled back, rooms of the convention center.

Was the popular black candidate promised a cabinet job in the Dukakis administration? Was he to be allowed to write the Democrat platform? Was he given the right to pick a new party chairman?

Jackson used some remarkably pointed rhetor ic in forcing Dukakis to toe the line. "It is too much to expect that I will go out in the field and be the champion vote picker and bale them up and bring them back to the big house and get a reward of thanks, while people who do not pick nearly as much voters, who don't carry the same amount of weight among the people, sit in the big house and make decisions."

This reference to slavery is strong stuff for blacks. It prompted Rev. Hosea Williams to declare that blacks would no longer tolerate the old Democrat formula of, "If it's white, it's right. If you're brown, stick around. If you're black, go back."

Both statements spring from frustration, but black leaders have brought futility on themselves. They are modern slaves to a constituency that wants government to solve their problems, and to a party that panders to such a policy. Jackson, Williams, and 90 percent of black voters have no real clout because they are slaves to Democrat handouts.

There is some evidence that Democrat party leaders realize government largess is drying up - the national debt is horrendous - and that the "silent majority" is getting tired of carrying the tax load.

Jackson was able to carry his challenge to white supremacy as far as he has because the Democrats need the bloc of seven million votes he can deliver. In a close election, as this one probably will be, any special interest group can make a difference in the outcome.

When Jackson addressed the NAACP convention a week ago, he declared, "One thing I know. I may not be on the ticket. But I'm qualified. That's what I know. I'm qualified, qualified, qualified."

This brought the convention audience to its feet. However, the brutal fact is that Jackson is not qualified. He has not held political office. He is a radical who embraces Castro and Kahdafi. He would emasculate national defense and double the deficit for social spending. He could not account for $2 million the Democrat Congress gave him to play with in his PUSH program.

Finally, Jackson is a minister, and Americans will be a long time accepting a religious person as president of a country that works hard to separate church and state. Indeed, Democrat liberals castigated Rev. Pat Robertson as a Republican candidate because of this, although the same difficulty doesn't bother them in a radical Democrat.

Nonetheless, Jackson has accomplished two important breakthroughs. He has broken the color barrier for presidential consideration, just as Geraldine Ferraro did for the gender barrier. Now, both blacks and women candidates can be consid ered - and attacked - for their political views rather than their special status.

Moses, King David, and Martin Luther King, Jr., were not able to consummate their dreams that became reality. Jackson's fate probably will be the same. But he can take pride that history will credit him showing the way.

Author: Lindsey Williams