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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 31, 1985
If the shortened support-span hypothesis is correct we shall soon
see a growth of the center and a period of depolarized politics.
Boring. In Britain the center's David Owen will promise Thatch
erism without Thatcher. In West Germany Johannes Rau presents
himself as a cool Kohl; in the U.S., the Cuomo-Kennedy-Hart al
ternative is an un-Reagan-like Reaganism. Because the support
span is so short, we are offered adaptation, not change.
There is little doubt that Senator Edward M. (Ted or Teddy) Kennedy is ac
tively pursuing the Democratic Party candidacy in 1988. He says his family
members would not be opposed to a run for the White House; his own man now
chairs the Democratic Party's national committee; and he is sporting a
trimmer figure these days, leading one pundit to say "Ted Kennedy is losing
weight; the Republic's in danger." Most significantly, Mr. Kennedy has
publicly urged Democrats to shift their highly divided party back toward
the mid-stream center, to become less beholden (visibly at least) to spe
cial interests. He and other Democrats say that even past welfare programs
pushed through by their party should not be looked upon as sacrosanct. The
following are excerpts from an article entitled "Teddy's Back" written by
John McLaughlin, which appeared in the May 17 NATIONAL REVIEW:
The evidence is now conclusive: Count Teddy not only in the race
for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination but determined to
go all out to get it, despite many in the liberal Democratic es
tablishment who think he is out of his mind.
Exhibit A, the
avoirdupois factor: He's lost twenty pounds, to regain the lean
and photogenic look. Exhibit B, the hawk factor: Teddy is moving
onto the Armed Services Committee.
Exhibit C, the tour of Ethiopia and other famine zones of Africa
by the Kennedy entourage. This had its humanitarian impulse,
doubtless, but it also served his political ends.
Also, Teddy
figures prominently in the apartheid/disinvestment debate over
South Africa; he leans toward punitive economic measures, a safe
political posture for him and one that will stroke Democratic
liberals••••
Of all the potential Democratic contenders, Kennedy has the most
powerful political-action committee (PAC), which gives him a dis
tinct competitive edge. His Fund for a Democratic Majority••.has
a donor list of well over 100,000 names, "a tremendous advantage"
over anyone who waits until 1986 to enter the race, says William
Carrick, Kennedy's Senate staff political director. "No one else
will be able to touch us," he boasts. What makes PACs important
is that individual contributions to federal candidates are
limited to $1,000 per election, which means that contenders must
have a large grid of small donors for the early money needed to
underwrite direct-mail programs and consequent campaign opera
tions••••
What has attracted Washington's notice recently has been Teddy's
sudden rhetorical lurchings to the right, especially his Hofstra
University address and remarks at a Democratic think-tank meeting
in West Virginia. "We cannot and should not depend on higher tax
revenues to roll in and redeem every costly program," observed
the nation's high priest of liberalism. "The mere existence of a