Page 2AThe Battalion/Friday, April 1, 1988 Opinion We need to treat Jackson like a real candidal Now that Jesse Jackson has the Democrats run ning scared, maybe the media will take off the kid gloves they’ve been using on this charismatic candi date. Time magazine said Democrats are “circling the! wagons” after Jackson’s stunning deteat Sue Krenek of Michael Dukakis in Michigan Satur day. The 2-to-l margin in the popular vote has brought about a sort of belated realization that Jackson is a real candi date and must be taken seriously. That margin is misleading, though. Michigan selects delegates according to who wins congressional districts, which means Dukakis will get almost as many delegates as Jackson despite the lop sided popular vote. So the nomination is still far from Jackson’s grasp. With the primaries pro ducing little but delegate chaos, the con vention is likely to come down to the “superdelegates.” Those 645 unpledged delegates are for the most part members of Congress and party officials. They are likely to swing the delegate count in the direction of the candidate they think has the best chance in November. Jackson is aware that party leaders are nervous about his showing in the primaries and knows the superdelegates pose a threat to his campaign. A Time article reports he’s beginning to com plain publicly about the party rules, es pecially the superdelegates. All of which may make for an inter esting convention. But the real question is why the Democrats are so surprised at Jackson’s emergence. And the answer is that the press hasn’t taken the candidate seriously. Like Pat Robertson, Jackson is a min ister who has never held public office. He’s made his shai'e of off-the-wall com ments and had some unorthodox politi cal connections. Members of the press — including me — have commented on Robertson’s wacky assertions about nu clear weapons in Cuba, etc. Mail Call No place like home EDITOR: They’re telling us that shack is supposed to represent the poor quality of housing in South Africa. Looks an awful lot like some of the housing here in Bryan-College Station, don’t it? Bobby Smith ’91 Why don’t you leave baseball alone? EDITOR: I’d like to know just who in the hell the corps thinks it is. I’ve been to a good number of A&:M’s home baseball games and have never seen hide nor hair (what little there is) of the corps, until the Oklahoma game — which just happened to be broadcast nationally on ESPN. They should either show up and support the team all the time or not at all; definitely not just high-profile games. But what really got me mad was that once the corps members finally came to a game they seemed to decide they were in charge of what was a tradition at the games and what wasn’t. Well, I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work like that. To be more specific, the corps members decided to start doing yells at the game, and almost anyone who goes to the games regularly knows this isn’t done, and lots of people enjoy it that way. In fact, one of the things I like most about our baseball games is that you get to sit back, relax and enjoy the game without having to deal with obnoxiously over-spirited people. I think the corps showed its typical bad taste and egotism by showing up at the game and trying to make things work like they want them to work, ignoring the large number of people who disagree with them. Some of us like to show our support by showing up regularly at home games and by adhering to the traditions that have slowly grown up at the games as opposed to bringing our own traditions along with us to the few games we attend and attempting to force them on others. The football games belong to the corps — let the baseball games belong to the regulars. Mike Freeman ’91 Leave your pennies, please EDITOR: About a week and a half before spring break, someone stole $280 worth of medical equipment from two offices in the G. Rollie-Read complex. Some of this equipment was ordered by Emergency Care Attendant and Emergency Medical Technician students. University policy states that property in an office is the teacher’s, therefore, the teacher must bear the loss. We all expect first-response personnel to be properly equipped for emergencies. This theft has lengthened the equipping time and financially hurt a teacher. Since EMS may one day save your life or limbs, I am asking that you leave small change in the five gallon water bottle located at the CHICKEN. The Dixie Chicken’s contribution to this fundraiser is providing a collection point. Please leave those pennies you do not want to carry around! We sincerely appreciate your change! Any surplus will be used to repair/replace teaching aids for the first aid classes. The HEED 217 class, spring ’88 David Opiela ’88 Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, address and telephone number of the xoriter. The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Dress Association Southwest Vandalism Confidence The Battalion Editorial Bored Sue Krenek, Editor Daniel A. LaBry, Managing Editor Mark Nair. Opinion Page Editor Amy Couvilloit, City Editor Rcbbyn L. Lister and Becky Weisenfels, News Editors Loyd Brumfield. Sports Editor Jay Janner, Photo Editor Jackson, though, hasn’t come under similar scrutiny. One reason is that, like Robertson, he hasn’t been taken se riously. The press tended to ignore Robertson’s odd comments until his sur prisingly good showing in Iowa. Held to the same standards of accountability as other candidates, he has floundered. So why has Jackson escaped scrutiny? In large part, it’s because of the color of his skin. Reporters have hesitated to ask challenging questions, fearing they’ll be accused of racism. Candidates who felt a black man had no chance of winning the nomination didn’t seriously attack Jack- son’s views. Now that timidity is coming back to haunt them. Newsweek columnist Meg Greenfield calls this politeness an insidious form of racism, and she is right: “ . . . this well-mannered and impene trable indifference isolating the black from all others strikes me as simply a new form of segregation. . . . Fellow Democrats, who do each other the cour tesy of combat, just smile condescen dingly at Jackson, unwilling to argue with him in public.” Greenfield goes on to say that candi dates have been afraid that questions about Jackson’s platform would be con strued as racist attacks. “Too many of Jackson’s colleagues,” she says, “have worried about his race and not his plat form. I think they have got it absolutely backward.” Have they ever. In their scramble to avoid racism, reporters have allowed Jackson to get by with things that would have ended other campaigns. Whether or not you think the “moral ity issue” is a valid one, it brought down the campaigns of Cary Hart and Joe Bi- den. Hart was plagued by rumors of womanizing, as is Jackson. Hart is out of the race. Biden dropped out in part be cause of a flirtation with plagiarism 20 years ago. But Jackson’s one-time asso ciation with Louis Farrakhan gets little mention. Public officials too numerous to men tion have been brought down by crude remarks. Who can forget that it was James Watt’s description of the mem bers of a committee that led to his resig nation as Secretary of the Interior? And what of Earl Butz, whose off-colonj led to his resignation? Jackson has hardly showed morel sitivity. But despite his referringtojl as “Hymies” and New York as “Hi® town” in 1984, his campaign is strong. Democratic Rep. Marvin c says Jac kson would be a "terribletML ” p date because “1 le’s made anti-Se;Bren’t remarks. He’s hugged Yasser .Vffiat attc and Fidel Castro.” But the mediaN night, ai . .. .• WTtip bothered to investigate those ties. BU ^' e like bus This isn’t to say that randomrei and ancient history should distp any candidate. But if other cam are questioned about such things, Jackson off the hook is indeed a verse f orm of racism. Jackson’s past remarks and ties should not