Wednesday, September 9, 1981
page 4
daily nebraskan
mm
People voted for Reagan, not aides
President Ronald Reagan's manner of conduct
ing his presidency has drawn quite a bit of media
attention over the last month.
When the leader of the most powerful nation
on earth steps out for a four-week vacation, he
takes much of the news with him. So, lacking real
news, the media collectively chooses to report
about the news that isn't being made.
All presidents have been judged by their style
as well as the content of their presidencies. The
public judges a president primarily on those who
preceded him.
Many people were upset by the informality
that Jimmy Carter brought to the White Mouse.
Wearing blue jeans, participating in Willie Nelson
concerts and curtailing of "Hail to the Chief
seemed to irritate people who liked the idea of an
imperial presidency.
But, beginning with his inauguration, Reagan
showed he was determined to restore the White
House with formal traditions.
So after a politically satisfying first six months,
Reagan ventured off to California for rest and
relaxation.
That Reagan decided to take a vacation is a
moot issue. He is 70 years old and was wounded
in an assassination attempt just five and a half
months ago.
He has also campaigned effortlessly for his
budget and tax cut proposals which passed
through Congress handily.
The problem lies in his choosing to take a
whole month off and how the government
functioned while he was off chopping wood.
When the U.S. Navy fighter pilots shot down
two Libyan planes who fired on them, Reagan
was notified of the action some five hours after it
occurred.
Questions were raised about the degree to
which Reagan was being informed on world
events. It's clearly a worthwhile concern consider
ing the way Reagan has been managed by aides at
press conferences.
And now that Reagan has returned from
Fantasy Ranch to the real world, he's bound to
face questions on who was in charge of what
while he was away.
Delegating power is his style. It was his style in
California and, judging from the way he
campaigned, it was an expected managerial pro
cedure. But it was Reagan and not aides Ed Meese and
Jim Baker that people voted for last November.
He may be able to get his job done in his 9 to 5
workday, but considering his shallow thought
process on important issues, it might be better if
he spent more time studying his index cards.
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Coke agrees to help blacks
Unless you follow the news media with
unusual diligence, you may have missed the
landmark agreement recently worked out
between Jesse Jackson's People United to
Save Humanity and the Coca-Cola Co.
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And yet, that agreement could, with
proper follow-up, be as important to black
America as the boycott of the Mont
gomery, Ala., bus company a quarter of a
century ago.
Under terms of the "moral covenant"
announced on Aug. 10, following a little
publicized boycott of Coca-Cola, the soft
drink giant will:
-Increase the number of black-owned
distributors from the present two to 32
within the next twelve months, while pro
viding special training and other assistance,
at a company-estimated cost of $1.3 mil
lion. -Identify bottling franchises that may
become available and attractive to finan
cially capable black investors and, in
addition, develop a list of prospective
black investors to whom the franchise
opportunities will be referred.
-Seek a black person for membership
on the corporate board.
-Establish a venture capital fund of
$1.8 million for blacks.
-Double the amount of advertising
money spent with black-owned media,
assign one of its product lines to a black
advertising agency, quadruple the level
of deposit and loan activity with black
banks and expand the amount of busi
ness done with black suppliers.
The total value of the package is esti
mated by the company at more than
$30 million.
Coke president Donald R. Keough
described his company's response as
"accelerating and enlarging our programs
already in place" to give black America
"a well-deserved piece of the action."'
Jackson won't quibble with that des
cription, but he goes further. "President
Reagan cut the public economy, which
affected blacks disproportionately. Then,
with his emphasis on deregulation, he told
the Congress and the private sector that
they didn't have to provide affirmative
action help to take up the slack. In addi
tion, his proposals for guest-worker pro
grams and other devices to increase oppor
tunities for foreigners further undercut
opportunities for blacks. We have con
cluded that we have to become our own
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission."
The enforcement lever is the $140
billion blacks spend each year.
Jackson said Coke's first response, fol
lowing the boycott-inspired resumption of
negotiations that had broken down, was
to talk primarily about hiring more black
workers. That is important, he acknow
ledged, but not the heart of what he and
his Selective Patronage Council (repre
senting the 50 top American markets)
had in mind.
Continued on Page 5
Trench-coated
sells water in
The scene: A town in Nebraska. The
tune: the year IW7. A high school-aged
male is walking down the street late at
night. Suddenly, his stroll is interrupted
by a whisper.
"Hey kid. c'mere a minute." says the
voice.
"Come where?" says the kid.
"Over here." says the voice."In the alley."
dark
The kid. eternally gullible, walks care
fully in the direction of the alley. Soon he
sees a silhouetted figure.
"Who are you?" the kid asks.
"Never mind who 1 am," says the voice.
"I've got something here you might be in
terested in."
"What do you have?"
"You'll have to come closer," says the
voice. "I don't want to talk too loud."
The kid's interest is peaked. He creeps
into the alley. Soon he can distinguish that
the voice is coming from a small, stocky
man in a trench coat.
"Don't worry kid. I'm not going to hurt
you. If it came down to a fight you could
probably beat me to a pulp.
The kid could see that that was the case,
which made him feel more relaxed.
"Okay," he says, "what have you got that
1 would be so interested in?"
"This," he says. He opens his trench
coat and reaches into an inside pocket. He
produces a sealed clear plastic container
from the pocket and hands it to the kid.
The kid examines the plastic bottle. He
can tell that it contains liquid, probably
clear liquid. Vodka? "Look," he says, "1
can get alcohol anytime I want to."
"Shhh, not so loud," says the man in
the trench coat. "It's not alcohol. Open it
up and have a sip. It won't hurt you."
The kid is feeling pretty brave by now;
he's also pretty curious. He unscrews the
cap and slowly tilts the bottle to take a sip.
"It doesn't taste like anything," says the
kid.
"It's not supposed to," says the guy.
"It's water."
"Water? To drink?"
"Sure."
"But that's illegal!" the kid says.
"That's why we're in this alley."
"How did you ever get drinking water?"
asks the kid. "Is it imported?"
"Nope. Home brew. I tapped into a
coal-slurry pipeline and boiled the water
out."
"Is it safe?"
"Of course," says the man in the trench
coat. "They used to drink it all of the
time."
"Just drink it straight?"
man in alley
flask illegally
"Yup. No carbon, no flavor, no any
thing. There used to be gallons of it under
the soil in Nebraska."
The kid eyed the bottle. "Think I could
have another sip?"
"It's going to cost you," says the man in
the trench coat. "That's pretty high-grade
water we're talking about. Guaranteed c9
percent pure."
The kid looked at the bottle, then at the
man in the trench coat. "How much?" he
says.
"Well kid, this bottle has a street value
of $40, but I'll let you have the whole
thing for only $25 cash right now."
"A whole bottleJ" says the kid. "What
if I get caught?"
"Well, the penalties for recreational
water drinking are pretty stiff in Nebras
ka," says the man. "But if things start to
look scary with the water patrols, pour the
stuff into an irrigation ditch. They can't
prove that you were drinking any water if
you don't have any on you."
The kid ponders for a minute, then
hands over the $25. The man in the trench
coat counts the money and starts to leave.
"Just one more thing," the man says.
"How do you happen to have $25 on you
for just walking around money?"
"Keep this under your hat " whispers
the kid. "I sell a little bootleg topsoit. I'm
not sure yet, but I think if we team up we
could make a fortune."
nebraskan
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