Clinton Affirms Diversity Before Jackson, Powell, Black Caucus

President Clinton voiced his support for affirmative action to a black audience that included two men who might launch campaigns to drive him from the White House: Jesse Jackson and retired Gen. Colin L. Powell.

Clinton received a cordial greeting Saturday night when he told a Congressional Black Caucus awards dinner that he would defend affirmative action programs because “if it were not for racial diversity, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”

But on Sunday, two prominent black Democrats, former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and former Black Caucus head Rep. Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, indicated they could support a Powell challenge to Clinton.

“If he’s right on the issues, I could support him,” Wilder, who briefly ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1992, said on ABC-TV’s “This Week With David Brinkley.”

Mfume, a friend of Powell’s, said he would support the Democratic nominee, presumably Clinton, “at this point,” but he added that “things have a way of changing in this world and in this town.”

Clinton’s lock on black support has been undermined this year by his shift toward the middle on such issues as welfare reform and balancing the budget in the face of the powerful conservative agenda by Republicans in Congress.

On affirmative action, he has pledged that programs guaranteeing a fair shot at jobs and education will stay, but he has also agreed to take a second look at such programs.

Jackson, speaking Sunday on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation,” said his candidacy remains a “live option,” but he said that Clinton would deserve to win if he focuses on jobs and education rather than welfare reform and crime.

Jackson, who has criticized Powell for not coming out strongly on black issues, said the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had the “right stuff.” Powell’s values are such that “if he has the will to go deeper, he certainly has the skill and the appeal,” Jackson said.

Wilder questioned whether Powell has that will, saying: “I don’t think he’ll run. I think he’s at the highest point of his development.”

Powell, on a national tour to promote his memoirs, has not stated whether he will be a candidate.

Former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, who is seeking the GOP nomination, said on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press” that he thought Powell was “a little too liberal for our party this year.” Powell has said he supports affirmative action, gun control and abortion rights.