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THE BATTALION
WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1976
Democratic convention no bore
NEW YORK — It is an article of
faith among the thousands of re
porters and spectators gathered here
for the Democratic National Con
vention that it is going to be a dull
affair. The nomination has been
Jimmy Carter’s for more than a
.month. There are no major fights on
platform, rules or credentials, and
no prospect of any rebellion against
Carter js choice of a running mate.
What a yawn. A prime-time bore.
Baloney. This convention will be
boring only to those who judge their
regular evening television fare by
the number of corpses displayed
each half-hour and the ingenuity of
the script-writers in arranging for
their disposal.
For those here and across the
country who have a sense of history
and a love of this land and its system
of self-government, this has to be a
fascinating moment.
The Democratic Party is our old
est political institution, an unbroken
link with Jefferson and the Found
ers, the source of 13 of our Presi
dents. It is also perhaps the most
diverse social institution in this land,
embracing within its ranks the
grandchildren of slaves and
slaveholders, all of the immigrant
tribes, the leaders of the academic
and artistic and business worlds, of
organized and unorganized labor —
to say nothing of the majority of all
functioning professional and
amateur politicians in this republic.
Yet, incredibly, this extraordinary
institution exists — like Brigadoon
— only four days every fourth year,
when its elected delegates meet in a
convention hall. Legally and
functionally, the national convention
is the Democratic Party, and nothing
else so thoroughly symbolizes the
party in the public’s mind.
In 1968 and 1972, the Democratic
conventions — as seen on television
— symbolized violence and discord,
riots in the streets and insults in the
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aisles. The people judged, and
rightly so, that a party which could
not govern itself was not ready to
govern the country.
That will not be the case this year.
Any journalist who does not recog
nize that as a news story of some
significance doesn’t deserve the as
signment here.
Historically, the great function of
the national convention was to select
the presidential candidate. But since
the advent of television, public opin
ion polls and the presidential
primaries, that function has at
rophied. The last convention that
went beyond one ballot was in 1952,
and this year will not break the
skein.
In modern times, the real role of
the convention has been, not to pick
the nominee, but to ratify the choice
dictated by the primaries and the
polls. But that is no empty gesture,
because it is by no means an assured
result. A nominee may win his
majority in the primaries, but he es
tablishes the legitimacy of his cre
dentials as a presidential contender
only in convention hall. The ac
quiescence of his party must be at
tained there, or his candidacy in the
general election is foredoomed.
If you doubt that, consider the fate
of Hubert H. Humphrey in 1968 and
George McGovern in 1972, or what
happened to Barry Goldwater in the
Republican convention of 1964.
The real drama of this convention
lies in Jimmy Carter’s efforts to be
accepted as the legitimate leader of
the Democratic Party. That drama is
heightened, not only because of the
disasters tht occurred the last two
times the Democrats met, but be
cause of who Jimmy Carter is.
He is the first non-Washington
candidate selected to lead the Dem
ocrats since they became the party of
the national government in 1932.
Adlai Stevenson was nominated
from the governor ship of Illinois, but
he was the choice of the incumbent
Democratic President, Harry S.
Truman, and represented no break
in Democratic tradition.
Carter represents a real break
with the past. He won primary
victories as a critic of the “wasteful,
inefficient government ’ created by
the Democrats who have controlled
Congress for the past four decades
and the White House for most of the
time. This convention will offer the
first measure of his ability to enlist
the willing support of those same
congressional Democrats — who
have, incidentally, become increas
ingly resistant to the commands of
strong executives in the past eight
years.
Carter is also the first real South
erner freely chosen as the Demo
cratic nominee since Civil War days.
Lyndon Johnson of Texas had to be
come President by succession before
he could win in convention hall.
In one sense, the Georgian’s ac
ceptance by the blacks, who have
earned more influence in the Demo
cratic Party than in any other na
tional organization, symbolizes the
final healing of the wounds of the
Civil War.
But there are still many white
Democrats from outside the South
— in labor unions, in religious and
ethnic groups and in academia —
who have not lost their tear of the
stereotyped “bigots of Dixie. Com
ing to terms with them represents as
much of a challenge to Carter as does
the latent struggle with those en
trenched congressional Democratic
powers skeptical of all “outsiders.
Those who cannot see the drama
in this testing of wills and this trans
fer of power are blind to the essential
and exquisite workings of our politi
cal system. Those who sneer at the
convention as tedious or dull might
as well sneer at democracy itself.
Without successful conventions,
there can be no viable political par
ties; without viable political parties,
there can be no hope of responsible
government.
America suffered when the Re
publicans destroyed themselves in
the Cow Palace in 1964, and when
the Democrats fragmented in 1968
and 1972. A successful Democratic
convention is a piece of work as
worthy of watching and cheering as a
successful moon-rocket launch. And
its effects will be a lot longer-lasting.
(c) 1976 The Washington Post
01976 by The Chicago Tribune All Rights Reseved
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