Emotion or Design? : Nervous Party Asking What Drives Jackson

As he thrusts and parries in the spotlight--now stinging Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis with threats of rebellion, now back-pedaling with conciliatory gestures--the Rev. Jesse Jackson spreads frustration and anxiety throughout the Democratic Party.

“We can’t get the two principals dancing,” complains an exasperated Dukakis aide who is struggling to avert the kind of schism that might hurt the Democratic ticket next fall. “When Dukakis is doing the waltz, Jesse seems to be doing the tango.”

What is going on here? Why is it that, blessed with what may be the Democrats’ best chance to recapture the White House in years, the presumptive presidential nominee and the man who fought him longest and most successfully on the road to the Atlanta convention have not buried their differences?

Why does Jackson, more than almost any other candidate for a presidential nomination in history, cast so long a shadow over a convention in which he has no hope of winning first prize? While some missteps and displays of insensitivity by the Dukakis camp have aggravated things, the continuing tension between Jesse Louis Jackson and Michael Stanley Dukakis arises primarily from a complex blend of drives and motives unique to Jackson.

To begin with, much of Jackson’s extraordinary impact derives from the fact that, as the first black candidate ever to make a serious challenge for the presidential nomination of a major party, he confronts white Democrats with an extraordinarily sensitive--and unfamiliar--problem.

Not only are matters of race still the most explosive and difficult faced by American society but--at this level of presidential politics--neither Democrats nor Republicans have any experience to guide them.

Moreover, Jackson’s own genius as a political figure springs from the fact that he understands the significant, if limited, attraction Americans tend to feel for an underdog. Whether spontaneously or by design, Jackson plays the part to the hilt and--as Michael Dukakis will ruefully testify--he has gotten the maximum political mileage out of it.

Secrets of Success

It is also clear that the very qualities which so exasperate his opponents and frustrate even some of his closest supporters are the secrets of Jackson’s ability to dominate through his personality not just this convention but much of the preceding campaign. This despite the fact that his own base of supporters was almost always outnumbered, and at the beginning, invariably outspent.

Jackson’s performance, especially in recent weeks, has seemed all the more jarring because it contrasts so dramatically with the strait-laced managerial style of Dukakis.

Moreover, some Democrats suggest, the Dukakis camp has displayed a costly inability to understand or empathize with Jackson--as the leader of a unique constituency and as a person.

“At first I thought they were just insensitive to blacks,” said one Dukakis aide, complaining about some of Dukakis’ advisers who have dealt with Jackson. “But now I think they might be just insensitive to people.”

Even Dukakis’ own aides concede that they did not handle the selection of Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen as running mate in a way that made things easier for Jackson. “Everyone admits it would have been better if we had been able to reach Jesse before making the announcement,” said Jack Corrigan, director of operations for the Dukakis campaign.

Still, whatever the miscues of Dukakis and his aides, it is Jackson who has refused to go quietly into that good night traditionally assigned to politicians on the short end of the vote count.

Sends Mixed Messages

One day, Jackson declares the ball is in Dukakis’ court and suggests the governor must reach out to him. The next day, he reaches out to Dukakis with a well-publicized suggestion for staff-level peace talks. In the morning, it is a diplomatic Jackson, sounding the need for unity against the Republicans. By evening, he is making unprecedented demands to share in the victor’s campaign decisions.

As they watch this last-ditch maneuvering, Democrats disagree on what drives Jackson.

Some portray him as driven by an insatiable ego. Some, in terms smacking of racism, even complain privately that he cannot control his own impulses. Others view Jackson’s every move as subtle calculation--an unmatched display of political genius.

Reflecting the view that Jackson is driven by little more than an immense appetite for attention, a key campaign strategist for one of the early Democratic candidates declares that after Dukakis had effectively secured the nomination, “I think Jackson saw the story running out for himself and I don’t think he could accommodate himself to not getting the attention.

“It is simply in his nature to use the threat of confrontation and to use the press to receive attention. It is not a long-term thinking process.”

Sympathetic With Plight

Some party veterans are more sympathetic with Jackson’s plight. “He’s under tremendous pressure,” says Michael Berman, a key aide to Walter F. Mondale in 1984 who is active at this convention on behalf of the Democratic National Committee.

“His status has gone through a tremendous sea change since 1984,” Berman says. “He had about 400 delegates then, now he’s got 1,200. And he’s achieved greater acceptability.”

Beyond these largely personal elements, some Democrats believe Jackson is responding to a fundamental dilemma with his black base of support. In the words of Jackson adviser Gerald F. Austin, “Jesse Jackson has a constituency now and will have one in November, and he wants to keep that together so he needs a role that will satisfy him and them.”

On the one hand, Jackson cannot afford to appear to be sacrificing blacks’ pride and sensitivities in the interest of making some pragmatic arrangement with Dukakis to serve his own interests.

On the other hand, if he is to maintain his leadership position beyond 1988, he cannot afford to bear the blame for a Democratic defeat in the November election--a defeat most blacks would regard as a blow to their hopes of regaining the momentum for advancement that developed under Democratic presidents in the 1960s and 1970s.

Advisers Divided

And Jackson’s problem is compounded by divisions within his own circle of advisers. “There are contending visions,” says a well-placed aide. “One group thinks we should take our chips and go home. Others favor peace at any price. Jesse’s in between. He sees himself as the leader of the progressive wing of the party.”

The aide said the militants in Jackson’s camp take the view that white Southern Democrats “ran away from the ticket in 1984 and then they were treated very well. Some people say we should do the same thing.”

Faced with such difficulties, his supporters say, Jackson has been driven not by uncontrolled emotion but by careful design. “There is very little that Jesse Jackson says or does that is not generally well thought out strategically and politically,” says one staffer.

“He will refer to options,” says Jackson adviser Ann Lewis, commenting on Jackson’s frequent suggestions that he might not fall into line with Dukakis. “He does not rule out options before their time, but it is a mistake to think he is making a decision or a threat.”

“The only tension or concern he has is that he remembers that he is the leader of a philosophy, or a movement, with a large constituency that he needs to hold together,” said another Jackson aide privately.

Advised to Join Hands

And to do that, this aide insists, Jackson must join hands with Dukakis and do his best to turn out the black vote next November.

“If they stay home,” he says, “it hurts Jackson’s long-term future because it means he can’t deliver them.”

And even in the heart of the Old Confederacy, however irritating and distracting Jackson might seem, some party leaders feel this was part of his appeal as a politician, appeal they say would help against the Republicans.

“I’ve campaigned with Jesse Jackson,” said Susan Swecker, executive director of the Virginia Democratic Party recently. “I’ve seen him energize voters. And I think he and Dukakis are going to work things out between them.”