"Politics of Exclusion"

By William R. Doerner

Jackson flails for recognition to the bitter end

CONVENTION. By becoming the first black to mount a major presidential campaign, Jesse Jackson ensured that the 1984 political season would esta- blish one historic precedent long before Geraldine Ferraro added a second. But instead of savoring his electoral accomplishments, which went far beyond what most political observers thought possible a year ago, Jackson approached this week's Democratic Convention in a defiant, almost reckless mood. The preacher-politician issued a torrent of threats, recriminations and inflammatory accusations that was little short of bewildering, even for someone who thrives on confrontation. Then he proceeded to back down, at least partly, from many of them. Right to the end, Jackson left many Democrats with very little answer to the question they have been asking themselves for more than a year: What does Jesse want?

In fact, many of Jackson's outbursts were the flailings of a wounded man who was not getting the thing he wanted most of all: a seat at the table of power. As one of three finalists in the long Democratic primary season, Jackson had expected to be consulted by Walter Mondale on such matters as the selection of a running mate and post-convention campaign strategy. Instead, Mondale met with Jackson only once, in a tense session that the former Vice President stressed was "not a negotiation." Mondale has ignored Jackson's demands to include minority planks in the Democratic platform that would call for huge defense cuts and the abolition of runoff primary elections, which Jackson charges discriminate against Southern Blacks. Last week, before announcing Ferraro as his choice for the No. 2 spot, Mondale specifically read Jackson out of the running "because we have too many differences that I think are basic."

Jackson's frenetic mood swings were captured, almost stop-action fashion, in a series of speeches and interviews, followed by clarifying re-interviews. By far the most explosive ran in the Los Angeles Times. In it, Jackson rekindled his smoldering feud with the Jewish community by accusing its leaders of trying "to make me a pariah and isolate our support."

One of the reasons Mondale never considered him for the vice-presidential spot, Jackson charged, was because of "threats" from "a significant number" of Jewish leaders, who were operating under the "very arrogant and contemptuous assumption" that Mondale could appease Black opinion by seeming to consider more moderate Blacks like Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and Philadelphia Mayor W. Wilson Goode. Taunted Jackson: "You know, any Black face will do, and get the same response from the masses." He even managed to wave a red flag at the Jewish community while speaking on an entirely unrelated subject. Discussing news coverage, Jackson criticized the White press for "Aryan arrogance," using a word associated with Hitler.

Part of Jackson's quarrel with the Jewish community involves a sensitive political question. Along with some other Black leaders, he genuinely believes that Jews command an influence within the party disproportionate to their recent vote-delivering capacity, whereas Blacks are the "most loyal" Democrats. Jackson-aides point out that while more than 80% of Black presidential votes in 1980 were cast for the Democratic candidate, more than half of Jewish ballots went against him. Says the Rev. Joseph Lowery, head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, of the Jewish protest over Jackson: "It sounds like they are looking for an excuse to defect to the Republicans."

Yet Jackson's remarks were careless, to say the least. Jewish voters remain deeply suspicious of the Baptist Preacher because of his support of Palestinian causes, and they have not forgotten his tardy repudiation of incendiary Black Muslim Leader Louis Farrakhan, a onetime Jackson surrogate, who characterized Judaism as "a dirty religion" only a month ago. Henry Siegman, Executive Director of the American Jewish Congress, demanded that Democratic leaders "finally repudiate" Jackson and warned that their continued association with him "can only lead to disaster."

Mondale did not choose to go quite that far, but Jackson's indiscreet accusations finally provided him with an opportunity to put some meaningful distance between the two of them. Mondale called Jackson's remarks "unacceptable" and said they pointed up the "deep differences" that separated the two on many issues. Jackson protested that he was merely calling for a halt to "the politics of exclusion."

In the same interview Jackson had bitter words about the campaign to put a female on the Democratic ticket waged by "White women," a belittling reference to the predominantly White membership of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Until very recently, Jackson claimed, it was not they but he who championed the cause of a him-and-her ticket, and they snatched it without giving him due credit. Complained Jackson: "They went from a woman Vice President as a non-issue--while I pushed it in every primary--to making it a litmus test this summer, and I wasn't even invited to address them."

The precise degree of Jackson's "enthusiasm" for the Democratic ticket became the subject of yet another controversy last week. Though he is pledged to support the party's presidential nominee, Jackson is determined to leave some room for bargaining on behalf of his supporters by warning that his endorsement might be less than ringing, depending on "our roles, our responsibilities and our proximity" in the campaign. "I'll play a trumpet with a clear sound to signal where we are relative to presidential politics," Jackson told the Washington Post. He added that the Democrats needed his "voluntary, enthusiastic support" to ensure a large Black turnout, but that he was not "obligated to work for the candidate as if I had a staff position."

These warnings sounded like a threat to sabotage the ticket by encouraging Jackson supporters to stay home on Election Day. But the next day Jackson was taking the opposite tack, blandly insisting that "I am not suggesting a boycott of the election." In fact, he added later, he simply meant that he would keep his followers informed of his progress in winning platform concessions. Said Jackson: "If I'm negotiating for you, watch my signal."

That zigzag was quickly rationalized by the publication of a New York Times/CBS News poll indicating Jackson's clout with Black voters, even those who cast their ballots for him in primary elections, is considerably weaker than many observers had supposed. While Jackson attracted roughly three out of every four Black ballots cast in primaries, only 31% would vote for him in the presidential election, vs. 53% who favor Mondale. Even if Jackson should withhold an endorsement of Mondale, the poll indicated, a mere 4% of Jackson's Black supporters would cast their vote against the Democratic nominee or boycott the election altogether. --By William R. Doerner. Reported by Jack E. White with Jackson

With reporting by Jack E. White