Jesse Jackson: 'What progressives must do is keep focusing on the moral center, not the political center.' (Cover Story) (Interview)

• Author: Nichols, John

When the overwhelming nature of the Republican victory in the November midterm elections became clear, the nation's most prominent Democratic elected officials seemed to be punch-drunk. President Clinton and his White House minions struggled with little success to come up with a satisfactory explanation, as did most of their Congressional cohorts.

But the Reverend Jesse Jackson knew precisely what had gone wrong. By failing to deliver on promises to African-Americans, to women, and to trade unionists, the Democratic White House and Congress had broken faith with the party's base, Jackson said, and as a result millions of traditionally loyal Democrats stayed home on November 8.

While most top Democrats turned to pollsters and pundits in hopes of finding a road map back to power, Jackson proposed a cleaner route: Stand again for the principles that elected Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and, yes, even Bill Clinton. Renew the Party's commitment to social justice and civil rights, and reinvigorate the base.

It was not a new message for Jackson, who came on the national scene in the 1960s as an aide to the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., developed into the nation's most identifiable civil-rights leader in the 1970s, and in the 1980s built unprecedented coalitions of farmers and inner-city residents, of academics and factory workers in support of two progressive campaigns for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

As progressives look to the 1996 Presidential election, many speak openly about their hopes that Jackson will again seek the Presidency--either as a Democratic primary challenger to Clinton or as a third-party candidate.

Jackson does not relish the prospect of launching a third Presidential bid. He still hopes President Clinton will embrace a more progressive agenda and eliminate the need to discuss a challenge. If that does not happen, however, Jackson admits that he would consider a candidacy.

Jackson and I discussed the Clinton Presidency at length several weeks after the election. He also deconstructed the new Republican Congressional majority, while boldly tackling the Christian Coalition, Rush Limbaugh, and the conservative, business-oriented Democratic Leadership Council. Jackson spoke of a progressive agenda to battle conservative hegemony. And he explained how religious faith and a sense of responsibility have kept him committed to a struggle that he acknowledges is "unending."

Q: The Republicans showed surprising strength at the polls, while Democrats were overwhelmed even in traditional areas of strength. Why do you think that was the case?

Jesse Jackson: It's not so much a tidal wave as it was that our walls were low. If you have a five-foot wall and there are three-foot waves, it doesn't bother you that much. But if you have three-foot waves and a one-foot wall, then it's a flood.

In so many instances, the base of cities and labor and workers and blacks was low, demoralized.

There were tremendous expectations coming out of 1992. What labor got out of the deal essentially was NAFTA and the promise of GATT--that did not inspire them. Cities were promised economic stimulus and economic development banks; they got none of that. Blacks were promised more justice; instead we got more jails--the biggest crime bill in the history of the country. So much of the base was weakened.

You also had key Democratic officials who were running against the President and who were ashamed to make public the legislative accomplishments that had been made. For example: five million new jobs, earned-income tax credits, the Family Leave Act, Motor Voter, more diverse appointment of judges--black, Hispanic, and female. Deficit down, inflation down, more markets, South Africa and Namibia free, Haiti in recovery, peace breaking out in the Middle East, rather than war. Those are the things that were not advertised in their commercials.

All the Democratic advertisements were based around how firm their commitment was to lock people up and burn them up, and in some instances they became indistinguishable from the Republicans. And when people have the choice between the real thing and a facsimile, they'll choose the real thing.

Not only did many of the Democrats attack the President, not only were they afraid to identify with the successes, they ran from the base of working-class people and labor and blacks.

Q: You've noted some of Bill Clinton's accomplishments, but don't you think he has to shoulder much of the blame for that disenchantment on the part of African-Americans and union members?

Jackson: He raised the expectations. He was the one who talked about the idea of dealing with big-ticket items: the idea of reclaiming our children--which is bigger than one party. The idea of reinvesting in the infrastructure of our cities, and the real struggle for economic stimulus. The idea of a national health-care plan for the American people. Bill Clinton didn't run a campaign on NAFTA--Bush ran on "the fast track" and got beat. Clinton didn't run a campaign on "three strikes and you're out" and the most massive jail plan in the history of the country.

Bill Clinton did some things that I thought were significant, and I didn't run away from the Democrats. I campaigned in twenty-two states and about sixty cities. I campaigned furiously because I felt I had to make a decision based upon where I see direction, priorities, service, character, and alternatives. I saw the alterantives to the Democrats being Newt Gingrich and Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, Phil Gramm, and so forth. And so I thought that was worth fighting.

But many people simply gave up.

Q: It's interesting that the prospect of Helms and Thurmond serving as Senate Committee Chairmen didn't come up much during the campaign.

Jackson: In the '60s, George Wallace and Bull Connor were in the center of the stage...