The same thing just might be beginning to happen with the GOP’s legendary “law and order” theme, which has worked as a way of bashing Democrats since the 1960s. After proving useful–even decisive-in five elections, the idea of exploiting fear of black crime to win white votes is looking a little tattered. It’s not that there’s less fear; there’s more. And any national Democrat who looks squishy on crime is still politically dead. But the public seems to realize that just building more jails-the major growth area of government in the 1980s-is not going to make these problems disappear. And on whose watch did the problems get worse? Not Lyndon Johnson’s. Besides, push those old buttons too often and the whole country blows up.
On his trip to L.A., George Bush appeared to understand some of this. When his cocoon was finally pierced, he responded in human terms to the carnage around him. What he failed to understand is that as president he’s in a position to do something about it. Bush isn’t heartless, he’s clueless. And the sad part is that there are plenty of clues around for him to put together if he really wanted to solve the puzzle.
Contrary to the stage-managed TV impression, Bush didn’t actually make a real walking tour of South-Central Los Angeles. His only inspection took place at one fire-damaged shopping mall sealed off from the public-at 7 in the morning. The only residents he met were a dentist and a store manager rustled up by the president’s advance staff. Face to face with Belfast West, Bush appeared rather incurious; he strolled right past the bombed-out stores without really looking at them. But as the day wore on and he met eloquent black clergymen and aggrieved Korean community leaders, he seemed sincerely moved. The joke on the press bus was that the expression on his face said roughly: Marlin, somehow I don’t think we’re in Kennebunkport anymore.
For a man so thoroughly isolated from the lives of most Americans, the mile after mile of devastation had to be a shock. This was his country, but it looked like a foreign country-which for Bush, obsessed as he is with foreign affairs, made it perhaps a matter of more compelling interest. The Israelis last week compared the riot to their own intifada, and maybe that wasn’t a completely inappropriate analogy. Despite all the rock-throwers on the West Bank, Bush views that unrest as the understandable rage of a dispossessed people. For all of the opportunistic looting, irrational arson and sheer criminality, didn’t the L.A. rage reflect something real, too?
The old Republican game would have been to stigmatize those communities-and send a message to the white suburbs that they will be insulated from black crime. But even suburbanites are beginning to realize that there’s no place to hide. Sensing this at last, Bush tried to talk as a president should, rejecting finger-pointing in favor of unity, compassion, the family.
Yet the hour is late for platitudes. The black residents of South-Central whom Bush didn’t meet-those in the audience or outside-were remarkably consistent in their reactions. They want action, real investment in the community, not words. “I think I’d be more inclined to believe him when I see the check clear the bank,” said Gale Fue, an accountant. On CNN, Claude Brown, author of “Manchild in the Promised Land,” turned to white America and said simply: “The time has come when you have to sit in on the card game and ante up.”
All of this is still terribly unfashionable in Washington policy circles. While blaming Lyndon Johnson didn’t go over well, Bush clings to the idea that money is no answer. Even the dumbest liberal no longer believes it’s the answer but how about an answer?
After all, it’s not as if poverty pimps still roam the land, ripping off the taxpayer with their wasteful community-development programs. With 20 years of experience, it’s quite clear to liberals and conservatives alike which ideas and organizations have a track record of accomplishment, and which don’t. The list includes ideas like community policing, tenant ownership of public housing, early-childhood education, prenatal care and youth recreation programs like the one Bush visited in L.A. Given that agreement, how can they not be funded heavily.? How can Bush say, for instance, that Head Start works, but only propose to offer it to less than one half of those children who are eligible for it? The money to pay for it is always there somewhere. Last week’s bill came due for the United States’ share of Desert Storm: $7.3 billion. We paid it.
This bill is long, long overdue. Take urban enterprise zones-no panacea, but worth a try. For 12 years, they have received bipartisan support. So why haven’t they passed? Jack Kemp says it’s because Democrats don’t want “some Anglo-Saxon center-right Republican cutting the ribbon” on an urban renaissance. Some truth to that, no doubt. But the bigger reason is that the president never showed any real interest in the larger issue of poverty, never gave South-Central a second thought-except as a way to get votes in places like Simi Valley. Enterprise zones alone won’t end poverty. Neither will any other single idea. But sustained commitment by the American leadership class can make a difference. Let’s push that button for a change.
