COMMENTARY / EXCERPTS : In ‘88, Victory Will Be Thrill Enough

The Democrats are eager to ridicule George Bush. It stirs their blood. They also feel that they must tell how many have suffered how miserably at the hands of the Reagan Administration--though without daring mention Reagan himself. But after a few hours, moaning becomes depressing. It is too much like a wake, when it should be a pep rally.

They need someone to look upward, to do what Reagan does so well when he describes that shining city on a hill that he allegedly would like America to be. They need someone like Hubert Humphrey, a Democrat to the death.

Until Tuesday night it seemed that no Democrat alive had the power of uplift, of positive outreach that the party needs in 1988. Then we were reminded that at least one, perhaps only one, can match the memory of Hubert. Jesse Jackson’s speech put a lump in some throats, too.