Jackie Mason on Powell Candidacy

Re “And You Thought You Knew From Guilt?” by Jackie Mason, Commentary, Nov. 1:

The suggestion that widespread white support of a black candidate is a function of the electorate’s collective guilt is not only absurd, it is demeaning to both the potential candidate and to the voters. To pontificate that “the reason for [Colin] Powell’s amazing popularity” is the guilt induced by Powell’s race denies the concerns of supporters who are neither impressed nor dissuaded by the fact that Powell is African American. Perhaps the search for a leader outside of the regular channels of partisan politics reflects dissatisfactions that in no way relate to an urge to atone for some alleged guilt. Mason’s notions may get him some laughs in his stage act but they fall flat as serious commentary.

BARBARA H. BERGEN

Associate Western States Counsel

Anti-Defamation League, Los Angeles

* As an African American man, I hope Mason’s opinion that white Americans would vote for Powell because of “white man’s guilt” is really just a bad joke. I would consider it a loss if Powell were elected because of someone’s guilt. I would consider it a victory if Powell was seriously considered a viable candidate for the presidency based solely on his views and opinions on how to run the country--even if he eventually lost.

RODERICK D. PATTERSON

Riverside

* Mason has not lost his touch, but I think he has it only partly right when he attributes the incredible enthusiasm for Powell to white guilt and the need to compensate for our treatment of other races in the past.

He is right that Powell’s candidacy would make us feel that we are indeed enlightened and unbiased, but a more important reason is that for many of us who are registered as Republicans, the rest of the candidates are somewhere between boring (Bob Dole) and downright scary (Pat Buchanan). Much as nature abhors a vacuum, we have been waiting for someone to come along looking like promise rather than threat, and Powell would fill that bill whatever the color of his skin.

ROBERT E. GOYETTE

Rolling Hills Estates

* Interesting. And here I thought I was all grown up because I regard Powell as an interesting presidential alternative, not as a black presidential candidate. Regarding “white man’s guilt,” my folks did not arrive in America until 1906, and as Italian immigrants they knew a little about discrimination. So Mason’s “guilt factor” seems a bit simplistic, if not downright condescending.

I don’t know a lot about Powell now, but I’ve seen enough to want to know more. I think Mason confuses voter interest with voter support.

BARBARA SHANKS

Diamond Bar

* George Will’s questions for Powell (Column Right, Oct. 29) were a bit more even-handed than his usually partisan rubbish. But the one about whether Robert Bork should have been confirmed for the Supreme Court was rather unintentionally hilarious. One of the main reasons Bork wasn’t confirmed was because he called the 1964 Civil Rights Act “an act of unparalleled ugliness.”

If the implication is that Powell must support such Neanderthal views in order to be acceptable to the reactionaries now in control of the Republican Party, reports of the good general as an intended front for inside-the-Beltway Reagan groupies like Will clearly merit much closer examination.

TOM SILVESTRI

Studio City

* With the recent Clinton flip-flops on political, economic and tax issues, in a likely Powell-Clinton race wouldn’t it be more fitting ideologically and logically if President Clinton were to run as a Republican and Gen. Powell as a Democrat?

NATHAN JACOBI

Pasadena

* During my tenure in the Congress, it was my privilege to know and work with Dole, Phil Gramm, Dick Lugar, Bob Dornan and others now mentioned as possible Republican presidential candidates, in addition to being a member of Congress during the entire Reagan Administration. As a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, I also had the pleasure of knowing Powell.

Even before Republicans began to “test the waters,” I came to the conclusion that if Powell declared as a Republican presidential candidate, I would support his can- didacy with confidence and enthusiasm. In my opinion, announced Republican candidates are spending too much time arguing minutiae and cutting up other Republicans. Many so-called conservatives want to cut up Powell because he isn’t conservative enough or he isn’t “mainline” enough or he might not “toe the line” of other self-proclaimed conservatives. Read his book. His thoughts on America and opportunity are clear.

ROBERT E. BADHAM

Balboa Island