Jackson Calls for Democrat Unity : Praises Dukakis After Delegates Back Governor in Platform Votes

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, in an impassioned speech to the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night, praised Gov. Michael S. Dukakis and repeatedly called for “common ground” in the Democrats’ effort to win the 1988 presidential election.

Saluting Dukakis the night before the governor was to receive the presidential nomination that Jackson himself had long sought, the former civil rights leader declared:

“No matter how tired or how tried, he always resisted the temptation to stoop to demagoguery. . . . I have watched his perspective grow as his environment has expanded. I’ve seen his toughness and tenacity close up and know his commitment to public service.”

Comparing his own background to that of the Massachusetts governor, Jackson, the son of a maid and a janitor, said: “His foreparents came to America on immigrant ships. My foreparents came to America on slave ships. But whatever the original ships, we are in the same boat tonight.”

Nonetheless, Jackson made it clear that he intends to continue pressing the Democratic Party on the issues of social justice and racial reconciliation.

“My work to keep America strong and make America better is ancient and endless,” Jackson said. “We can win. When I stand here tonight, it has a meaning for those who are down, those who are tired or bent. Don’t give up. Hold on. For the morning comes.”

Jackson’s hourlong address did not contain a direct endorsement of his victorious rival, but he said “Gov. Dukakis and I share a common commitment to new priorities, to expansion and inclusion . . . a commitment to a shared national campaign strategy.”

The speech, which echoed with the themes that marked Jackson’s campaign--and Democratic presidential campaigns of the past--won cheers and thunderous applause from the convention.

Yet for all the cheering, it was clear Tuesday that an overwhelming majority of the delegates were giving their votes and their allegiance to the more moderate, less politically divisive politics of Dukakis.

Specifically, in voting earlier in the afternoon, the delegates adopted a 1988 party platform carefully tailored on every issue to avoid handing ammunition to Dukakis’ Republican opponent next fall.

Dukakis delegates engineered what they considered a particularly important tactical victory by rejecting, by a vote of 2,499 to 1,091.5, a Jackson proposal to raise taxes on business corporations and wealthy individuals.

Going through the exercise of the vote on the convention floor gave Dukakis an opportunity to reinforce the image he has been trying to project as a candidate who, far from wishing to raise taxes himself, will fight against those who do.

“Let’s not tie (Dukakis’) hands with a tax increase,” declared Denver Mayor Federico Pena, arguing against the Jackson-sponsored minority plank. “I don’t like throwing softballs to an opponent to knock out of the park, and a tax-hike pitch is a grand slam for George Bush”--the presumed GOP nominee.

The Democrats also rejected by a 2 to 1 margin a Jackson-sponsored minority plank calling for a commitment against first use of nuclear weapons.

Dukakis and Jackson had worked out an agreement on how to deal with their differences on the platform before it was taken up at the convention. And as part of their agreement, the Jackson forces said they would not press their proposal for a five-year freeze on Pentagon spending.

Kennedy Attacks Bush

In another ringing speech Tuesday night, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts accused Vice President George Bush, the presumed GOP nominee, of “burying his head in his hands and hiding from the record of the Reagan-Bush mistakes.”

Citing a series of episodes in the Reagan Administration and ending each with a rhetorical, “Where was George?” Kennedy began by declaring:

“The vice president says he never saw--or can’t recall--or never heard--as the Administration secretly plotted to sell arms to Iran. So when that monumental mistake was made, I think it is fair to ask--where was George?”

As he repeated the rhetorical question the crowd began to chant “Where was George” like the refrain of a song.

Meanwhile, the agreement reached Monday by Dukakis and Jackson to integrate their campaign forces and provide key positions for Jackson and some of his aides was hailed by Democrats as a crucial unifying move.

Trouble in New York

Almost immediately, though, the Dukakis staff was confronted with the kind of problems likely to crop up, and it came not in the conservative South but in racially charged New York.

On Monday, Dukakis aides told reporters that Jackson’s former New York campaign manager, Hulbert James, would be co-chairman of their statewide effort along with Al Gordon, an aide to New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, whose appointment to head the campaign had been announced some weeks ago. Cuomo, according to a well-placed member of Dukakis’ staff, reacted angrily, feeling that the authority of his associate had been compromised.

The agreement negotiated with Jackson on Monday, it was learned, also calls for Dukakis to increase the role of Jackson’s supporters in the party by adding a new co-chairperson of the Democratic National Committee to oversee voter registration, increase the committee’s at-large members from 25 to 33, expand each standing committee by two members and the party’s executive committee by three.

Under the agreement, the new people will be chosen by Jackson.

Avoids Floor Fights

Still, things could hardly have gone better for Dukakis on Tuesday. He got the platform he wanted and avoided any divisive floor fights with Jackson delegates. Although the Jackson forces claimed some success in the struggle over the platform, Dukakis gave them little of consequence.

The one significant concession to Jackson forces, made in pre-convention negotiations, was a separate plank calling on the State Department to declare South Africa “a terrorist state.” The plank also calls for “comprehensive sanctions upon its economy.”

By contrast, Jackson’s supporters had fought for a month for a platform commitment to double federal spending on education but they settled for language that merely called for “significantly increasing” federal funding.

A third minority plank, endorsing self-determination for the Palestinians, could have led to a divisive fight, but it was brought to the floor under terms that called for its withdrawal before a vote.

No Specifics

While the 1988 platform keeps faith with the spirit of the party’s traditional principles, it is considerably longer on ends than on means. It contains no numbers or specifics on how its goals would be achieved or funded.

The document contains a paragraph on innovative and pragmatic government that closely tracks the kind of ideal government Dukakis has advocated in his campaign speeches:

“We believe in competent, pragmatic governments, accountable to the people, led by men and women dedicated not to self-interest but to service, motivated not by ideology but by American ideals, governing not in a spirit of power and privilege but with a sense of compassion and community. For many years, in state and local capitals across this nation, Democrats have been successfully solving our problems and helping people with exactly this kind of innovative government.”

Economic Justice

The platform embraces the party’s long-held belief that government has a responsibility to assure economic justice for all, and it endorses a long-cherished Democratic goal of “full employment.” However, it does not define the term and its endorsement is contained in a long sentence that advocates numerous other traditional liberal programs:

” . . . A first-rate full employment economy, with an indexed minimum wage that can help lift and keep families out of poverty, with training and employment programs--including child care and health care--that can help people move from welfare to work, with portable pensions and an adequate Social Security system, safeguarded against emasculation and privatization, that help assure a comfortable and fulfilling old age, with opportunities for voluntary national public service . . . that can enrich our communities, and with all workers assured the protection of an effective law that guarantees their rights to organize, join the union of their choice, and bargain collectively with their employer, from anti-union tactics.”

The civil rights plank supports passage of the equal rights amendment and the right of a poor woman to have an abortion, even though the word is never used in the document. Rather, it states: “The fundamental right of reproductive choice should be guaranteed regardless of ability to pay.”

Contributing to this story were staff writers Robert Shogan, Henry Weinstein, Thomas B. Rosenstiel and David Lauter.

READERS’ SCORECARD: HOW THE DELEGATES VOTED Use this form to keep track of tonight’s delegate voting for the Democratic presidential nomination. Total Delegates: 4,162 Needed to Win: 2,082

State Dels. Dukakis Jackson Other Alabama 65 Alaska 17 Arizona 43 Arkansas 48 California 363 Colorado 55 Connecticut 63 Delaware 19 Dist.of Columbia 25 Florida 154 Georgia 94 Hawaii 28 Idaho 24 Illinois 200 Indiana 89 Iowa 61 Kansas 45 Kentucky 65 Louisiana 76 Maine 29 Maryland 84 Massachusetts 119 Michigan 162 Minnesota 91 Mississippi 47 Missouri 88 Montana 28 Nebraska 30 Nevada 23 New Hampshire 22 New Jersey 126 New Mexico 30 New York 292 N. Carolina 95 N. Dakota 22 Ohio 183 Oklahoma 56 Oregon 54 Pennsylvania 202 Puerto Rico 57 Rhode Island 28 S. Carolina 53 S. Dakota 20 Tennessee 84 Texas 211 Utah 28 Vermont 20 Virginia 86 Washington 77 West Virginia 47 Wisconsin 91 Wyoming 18 American Samoa 6 Dems. Abroad 9 Guam 4 Virgin Islands 5 Unassigned 1 Totals 4,162