Dukakis Selects Vice President

The notion that Jackson was denied the Democratic presidential nomination and was passed over for the vice presidential choice because he is black is foolish. Jackson was not chosen by the voters or Dukakis because of what he stands for, not the color of his skin. If it were only skin color that balanced tickets, Jackson would most surely have been the choice.

What “did in” Jackson was Jackson. Jackson’s intemperate ethnic insults, his choice of “friends,” his “Arafat-PLO connection” and his “publicity-release politics” are what did him in; nothing else!

Dukakis, thankfully, did not succumb to the enormous pressure exerted by Jackson followers to choose Jackson as his running mate. He, instead chose an experienced, ideologically balancing person who would be best suited to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Raspberry’s comments that Jackson’s vice-presidential race was his own undoing hit the mark. One would hope, however, that Jackson-supporting Americans would not tie their acceptance to a Jackson candidacy. Their support for the candidate who most represents their dreams and aspirations will assure acceptance. A “backlash vote” for Bush would surely guarantee four more years of the Reagan Administration legacy. Could any of us hope for that?

SHERRI LIPMAN

Fullerton