'armonious convention snuihin 'io sneeze at
The Democrats' convention was the sort of event
that Jim told Muck Finn "you wouldn't want to miss
for three dollars." Four maybe, but not three,
It might have been a $7.50 convention, a humdin
ger, had Gary Hart pounced after Geraldine Fcrra
ro's first interview with Valter Mondale, whose staff
reported that she had done poorly. Had Hart got her
to join a Gary-and-Gerry ticket, he might have
knocked enough delegates off Mondale's pile to pull
Mondale below the winning total. Hart then would, I
believe, have been nominated in a rush.
Democrats certainly do have a powerful liking for
Myth
Continued from Page 5
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Southern women, Rich
ards wryly asks about the
origins of the leading anti
feminist from Illinois:
"Hey, tell me, where does
Phylli3 Schlafly come
from?"
In the next days, a lot
of the rhetoric about
Gerry Ferraro will be
about doors opening,
about old ideas and old
stereotypes breaking
down. It would be intrig
uing and quite delicious
if this lady and this cam
paign crumbled another
myth, one with a distinct
ly Southern accent.
1C34, Tha Boston Glcbt
Newspaper Company
Washington Post Writers Group
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HV'.'. MAIS CINtlR
being stampeded. The premier stampeder, Jesse
Jackson, probably helped his party, and Ronald
Reagan's.
Jackson gave Democrats in the hall, and some
traditional Democratic constituencies, a chance to
do what self interest and liberal doctrine make them
want to do: feel warmly about him. So the unpre
cedented turning over a night of the convention
to someone who finished a distant third ir. the nom
ination contest was practical politics, as well as
emotional therapy for the man who has been seek
ing respect while others were seeking the presidency.
George Will
On the other hand, the congregation in the con
vention hall, experiencing a political Pentecost, was
not, to put it mildly, a representative slice of that
which matters: the electorate. Many people at home
watching Jackson's hot performance on the cool
medium must have thought, "Surely I am not part of
the huddled masses summoned to come unto him.
That party makes me uncomfortable."
Now as Walter Mondale charges forth, hi3 lance at
the level, to slay the dragon of Reaganism, the ques
tion is, "Where is the best of him?" He left here under
the shadow of a doubt that hovered over him in
January. The doubt is whether he has, as his oppo
nent so conspicuously does, a talent for embodying
a cause.
One discouraged Democrat says Mondale's stra
tegy has become his message. Another says Mon
dale's method mirrors his mind, in this sense: Mon
dale does not think in terms of individuals. Rather,
he thinks that everyone is a member of a group, and
every group has their organization, and every organ
ization has a leader with whom you make arrange
ments. For example, a person from the South is a
member of The South," which has a regional politi
cal organization, at the head of which is . . . Bert
Lance.
One splendid if unintended result of this conven
tion is that a dreary subject may have been elimi-
nntpd from this vcar's campaign. Lance left Washing
ton under a cloud of charges that were as Insub
stantial as, well, a cloud or as the charges against
Ed Meese. Perhaps the parties can negotiate a mut
ual and verifiable freeze on sanctimony. "We won't
talk about Lance's checkbook if you wont talk about
Meese's cuff links."
The convention made the campaign themes as
clear as consomme: Reagan is unfair at home and
unsafe abroad.
When Jim asked Tom Sawyer what a Moslem is
Tom said a Moslem is someone who is not a Presby
terian. With similar precision Democrats say that
"fairness" i3 not what Reagan delivers. Among the
many things we will learn in the next 100 days is
whether the "fairness" of the federal social agenda is
a salient issue during an economic boom.
The country is more conservative than it was four
elections ago, and the Mondale-Ferraro ticket is
even more ideologically uniform and pronouncedly
liberal than the second-most-liberal ticket of the
postwar era, Humphrey-Muskie in 1963. Today only
one-third of all Democrats describe themselves as
liberals.
The current House of Representatives is the first
in which a majority of seats are not from the states
that won the Civil War. Republican successes in the
rising regions the South and West have temp
ted, or forced, Democrats to concentrate" on the
Northeast and industrial Midwest. This regionalism
partially explains today's unusually divergent views
of the two parties concerning the country's condi
tion and the government's agenda.
Only 10 elections sir.ee 1789 have been close,
meaning won by a margin of approximately 3 per
cent or less. But close elections seem to come in
clusters. Five were consecutive (1876-1892) and
three were recent (1960, 1968, 1976). More than
one-fourth of those who voted for Carter in 1976 did
not in 1980.
Democrats can reasonably hope that their rea
sonably harmonious convention (only the second
such since 1964) will revise the allegiance of those
Democrats who were dispirited four years ago. So
this was indeed a $3 convention, and in Huck's day
three dollars warn't, as he said, nuthin' to sneeze at.
ci 34, W&$fclng?3ti Post Writer Group
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Black
journalists
Ccstinaed Sroci Pa;3 4
To find the solution, people can look at the way
the news is gathered and presented in America.
For example, many anchormen editorialize for an
entire hour in the name of news. Anchormen are not
the only editorializing culprits; they also invite other
political commentatorsanalysts and reporters on
their shows to do the same. Reporters put editorial
comments and speculation in their stories, passing
these comments off as fact. Examples cf this abound
in an election year when winners arex declared
before the vote is taken. More subtle' instances
include the choice of descriptive words used in any
report
How can the news be objective when what journal
ists choose to report or even highlight for that
matter is based on subjective criteria? How can
the result be objective when the process is highly
subjective?
It's a proces s that begins with people determining,
according to their own criteria, what is newsworthy,
what is worth covering. The next step is reporters
deciding what questions to ask the focus and
direction of their interviews. Then the reporters
decide what to leave out of the story, paring down
the already selective material that has been gather
ed. Someone else may edit the story further, then
Da:!y Ncbrazkan
decides, again using personal criteria, where to
place the story, either what page in the newspaper
or magazine, or when during tha newscast. Every
step requires the judgment (a synonym fcr opinion)
and is at the discretion of some person who hss
distinct perceptions, principles, and opinions. It m
an evaluative process, which by its very nature is
value-laden. This b thectandard.
So the question that follows is: Should black
journalists be expected to deviate from the standard,
end perform at a higher level than that of their
non-black collegues? Should blacks be objective
about Jesse Jackson, about racism, about Issues
important to them when white journalists are not
doing so?
It's not a matter of being "objective" across the
board; it's a matter of where your perspective is oh
the board. We need to get away from the belief that if
you have a mainstream perspective you can be
objective, but no one else can. Perhsp3, in striving
for the unattainable ideal of objectivity, the main
stream perspective is less objective than others.
Those outside the mainstream are forced to deal
with these perceptions because they're encountered
and must be taken into account in all aspects of life.
Mainstreamers rarely know what other perspectives
are, if they even ackno'wkdga that they exist
Tuesday, July 24 19B4
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