Mundane President

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tens of thousands of its citizens; to counter "Soviet expansionism; " and to THE HARLOTTE SOFITER protect the investments of U.S. corporaCan anyone really expect Mondale's foreign policy to represent a fundamental shift from Reagan's bellicose posture? What about Mondale's support for instituting draft registration? Or his Grenada? Should the people of Grenada differentiate between Mondale's Demosupport Reagan's military invasion of their country and Reagan's What kind of advice does Mondale want the 200 U.S. military "advisers" he believes should remain in Honduras to give to the Honduran military? The same advice, perhaps, that U.S. advisers handed out to the corrupt Diem regime dale during the primary campaign, are in South Vietnam in the early 1960s? now falling in line behind the frontrunWill Mondale expect the people of this ner. Warren Weaver Jr. reports in the country to swallow the same kind of June 12, 1984, New York Times, that reassurances to trust his Central Amer- "Walter F. Mondales's rivals for the ica policy as Lyndon Johnson proffered Democratic Presidential nomination during the Vietnam war and which showed little interest today in challengMondale, a supporter of the war, took ing him on the platform to be adopted as good coin? at the party's national convention."

Vague promises mittee members "thought it was signifi- The article reports that some comAt best Mondale and the Democrats cant that Mr. Jackson did not press offer only vague promises designed to today for a platform calling for large placate working people. But specific increases in spending on social proproposals to remedy the ills facing grams." Jackson has instead focused on working people will be hard to find. his objection to runoff primaries in And that is no accident. some states and revising rules on deleRobert Shogan and Sara Fritz quote gate representation at conventions, Rep. Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-N.Y.), issues likely to be resolved by mutual chairperson of the Democratic convenagreement. tion Platform Committee. as saying As former Carter press secretary "she will try to avoid addressing specific Jody Powell notes in his nationally synlegislative proposals that she feared dicated column (June 12, 1984), "Spemight offend more voters than they cific commitments to new, big-bucks please." (Los Angeles Times. June 10.

social programs and an actual real-dol1984) lar cut in the defense budget are also Niti "No, that's MONDALE!"

are well aware of the popular support for Jackson, who received 22 percent of the popular vote in the Democratic primaries. But Jackson can be most effective in getting out the vote for Mondale if he does so from an arm's length.

For this reason, Mondale's supporters may stage a calculated media show at the convention, backing Jackson's demand for a minority report on certain issues, since Jackson may not have the support of the 25 percent of the Platform Committee required to present a minority report to the convention floor.

As Shogan and Fritz note in the June 10, 1984, Los Angeles Times, "For tactical reasons, Mondale's supporters might back Jackson on minority reports on certain issues. If he proposes a defense budget cut, it might be a good idea to have a floor debate on it and have the convention vote it down overmember said, "one national committee In any event, Jackson guess."

The tepid Democratic Party primary race has gone from the original "Sominex Seven" to the "Mundane One." But behind the superficial discussion of Mondale's "charisma," or lack thereof, is a very real problem for the Democratic Party.

As partners in the ruling class drive to cut social programs, re-establish the "military option" as a tool of U.S. foreign policy, and back up the employers' never-ending demands for concessions from the unions, the Democrats face an uphill battle to preserve their image as the party of common working people. Democratic Party appeals to build a "New Deal" or "Great Society" are distant slogans of another time. Gary Hart's "New Ideas" amount to the wisdom that the Democrats should not "promise everything to everyone."

Jesse Jackson's campaign, which is the only one that has aroused any real enthusiasm, banks on his ability to bring into the Democratic Party millions of Blacks who are disenfranchised and discontented with the "politics-asusual" approach of both parties. The Democrats are not unaware that one factor in Carter's defeat in 1980 was the 3 million Blacks who voted in 1976 but did not vote in 1980.

Of course, all this does not signify any great popularity for Reagan. What it does reflect is the widespread discontent among a growing number of people who choose not to vote. In the 1980 presidential election 46 percent of the eligible voters did not vote. Thus, Reagan's so-called popular mandate amounted to a grand total of 27 percent of the vote. The Democratic Party received only 20 percent of the vote of

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On June 5, the Board of Elections and Ethics of Washington, D.C., voted to allow some homeless people who live in the streets to vote. The unanimous ruling involved two men who live on heating grates near the Department of the Interior, two who live behind the YMCA building downtown, and one who claims a porch of Constitution Hall as his residence. All of the men claimed that they could always be found at these places since that's where they In a democratic country such as ours it is proven that the rich have as much right to starve in the streets as the poor do. Just think of the choice these peolived. IN SAN WIR