By Russell Steinthal

At the annual dinner meeting of the Society of Columbia Graduates earlier this month, a panel representing the alumni, faculty, and administration of Columbia College discussed a panorama of issues related to the 1996 Presidential election, ranging from the future of televised political conventions to the remarkable change in President Clinton's political fortunes over the last two years.

The panel featured Professor of History Alan Brinkley, Senior Vice President at ABC News Richard Wald CC'52, and Associate Dean of Columbia College Kathryn Yatrakis. Each discussed an issue of particular personal interest, and then they fielded questions from the assembled alumni.

Wald opened the discussion by examining the future of television coverage of party conventions. "Politics has changed. The choice of the nominee has moved to the primaries [from the convention], but television hasn't changed," he noted. In the future, he speculated, the major television networks may restrict their coverage to one night of each respective convention, cover the acceptance speech of the each candidate live, and "talk about politics the rest of the time."

The veteran journalist also mentioned an issue less frequently discussed in the media, the role of the television networks on election night. Wald pointed out that it is very likely that "it will become apparent about 8:10 who has won the election." "Do we have a civic responsibility to tell the voters `we don't know [the results]'," Wald wondered, "that we know and won't tell them, or tell them and theoretically drive them away from the polls [in western states where polls close later]?". Wald said that the decision would probably made that night.

Professor Brinkley shifted the focus closer to the typical subjects of political discussion, asking how "a President who was given up for dead two years ago is now an overwhelming favorite." The history professor highlighted two main reasons: the economy and the series of strategic mistakes made by the Republican party. In his view, the Congressional Republican leadership incorrectly interpreted their victory in 1994 as a mandate for revolutionary change. He called that "one of the biggest blunders by a major party leadership in the latter half of the twentieth century."

Brinkley also cited the candidates' respective styles as a reason for President Clinton's seemingly miraculous revival. While calling President Clinton a "brilliant campaigner," he pointed out that he "hasn't seen a candidate who has attracted less energy, less enthusiasm than Bob Dole in a long time," a fact he attributes at least in part to Dole's reserved nature.

In Dole's defense, Wald argued that as a result of the mistakes made by the Republican leadership, "no candidate put forward by the Republican party after June of this year would be doing better than Bob Dole is in the polls now." Yatrakis, who serves as the director of the urban studies program in addition to her work as associate dean, discussed the candidates' nearly total disregard for the problems facing America's cities. She pointed out that while there is some discussion of urban issues couched in issues like welfare and race relations, only Republican Vice Presidential candidate Jack Kemp has talked about the cities per se, and even then only occasionally.

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Clinton/Gore '96

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The Moment Takes a look at Clinton's Positions

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