THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280603
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: 85 lines
Nobody censors Jesse Jackson or Mario Cuomo, so Democrats were edgy about what the two great orators would say Tuesday night.
Both had disagreed with the president's signing a Republican welfare bill even though he had vetoed it twice, seeking improvements.
Jackson had been assigned a slot before prime time television, and it was not even certain that Cuomo would be given a spot until Tuesday.
But two hours after the evening session began, both were moved up into prime time. So apparently they gave Clinton an advance peek.
In back-to-back speeches that will make this convention memorable, the party's two biggest guns cannonaded the Republican Party with old-fashioned partisan fire.
In doing so, the Democratic Party's true nature surfaced, helium balloons erupting from an over-stuffed net. At such moments, President Clinton seems to be the only centrist left.
Always surprising, Jackson, stirred the convention by declaring, ``In 1996, Bill Clinton is our best option. The cross is on his shoulders. But burdens shared are easier to bear.''
On the issue of welfare, many differed with the president, he said, ``But we can disagree and debate and still work together.''
The fight was never about welfare, he said, but always about jobs. ``Welfare is the exhaust pipe of a failed economic engine. We want to be a part of the engine of growth,'' he said.
President Clinton has been our first line of defense against, ``the right wing assault on our elderly, our students, our civil rights.''
``We must maintain that line of defense and protect the first lady too from their mean-spirited attacks,'' he said.
With only 40,000 more voters, Newt Gingrich would have never taken power, Jackson said. ``This low turnout cannot repeat itself in 1996. We must inspire and motivate our base vote - the margin of our hope.''
That had to be music to Clinton's ears because nobody compares to Jackson in spurring the registration of black voters.
This year the right-wing extremists ``have a chance to take over all three branches of government. This would be an unparalleled disaster for our people,'' he said. Both Jackson, and Cuomo later, predicted utter doom for the American people if Republicans win.
Jackson's speech resonated above wave after wave of applause from a crowd whose eyes never left his face.
At 54, he had lost none of his emphatic rapid fire delivery. In a way his fiery speech was an answer to Colin Powell's powerful one to the Republicans in San Diego.
Stand tall, he told the screaming crowd. ``We will win! We deserve to win! I love you!''
Early in his speech, Cuomo noted he had opposed the welfare reform bill because it put children at risk.
Clinton has insisted, he noted, that he could avert that risk by repairing the bill before any children are in harm's way. But for him to do that, Cuomo said, ``We need to give the president the strength of a Democratic Congress.''
``No president has done as much to move toward a balanced budget as Bill Clinton,'' he said.
``With the help of a Democratic Congress Bill Clinton can do for education what president John Kennedy did for space.''
Cuomo closed by leading the convention in chants of ``four more years.''
The party's energy received a shot Monday night when paraplegic actor Christopher Reeve pleaded for funds for research to help the disabled.
Invoking the party's patron saint, he said FDR ``showed us that a man who could barely lift himself out of a wheelchair could still lift a nation out of despair.''
In that lyrical strain, he continued, ``and I believe - and so does this administration. . . '' in what ``FDR taught us: America does not let its needy citizens fend for themselves. America is stronger when all of us take care of all of us.''
That beautiful bit about all caring for all may not stand much perusal for logic, but the passage goes to the core of liberal beliefs. Conventioners sprang cheering to their feet.
Earlier in the evening they were stirred by Sarah Brady, whose husband Jim was crippled in an attempted assassination of President Reagan.
At Clinton's behest, Congress passed and he signed the Brady bill requiring a delay before the purchase of handguns.
``Jim and I join with you tonight in saluting the great job that President Clinton has done in fighting crime and gun violence,'' Sarah Brady said.
On the Lehrer News Hour, pundits were chagrined that the Democrats chose to betray their liberal heritage, even for a moment.
Last night Jackson and Cuomo showed that the legacy was still vibrant.
KEYWORDS: DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION 1996 by CNB