Word: wattenberg
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That is the provocative thesis of a powerfully argued essay, "Black Progress and Liberal Rhetoric," by Ben Wattenberg and Richard Scammon, that appears in the April issue of Commentary. Presenting a wealth of data, the authors claim that 52% of the nation's black families have by now entered the middle class-a change that is "nothing short of revolutionary...
Census statistics, however, are as reliable as any, and Wattenberg and Scammon are thoroughly at home with them. Wattenberg was an adviser to President Johnson; Scammon, who now heads the privately operated Elections Research Center in Washington, directed the U.S. Bureau of the Census for four years. They collaborated on one of the most influential books of recent years, The Real Majority, which noted that the bulk of the electorate is "unpoor, unyoung and unblack...
...election, in fact, seemed to bear out the view offered in 1970 in The Real Majority by its coauthors, Political Analyst Richard Scammon and ex-Lyndon Johnson Aide Ben Wattenberg. Their conviction: "The man who chooses the Presidents of this country is the man who bowls on Thursday nights. He is a man who was decidedly turned off as he watched the Democrats-of-despair hand out the campaign buttons of the New Politics. The electorate is unyoung, unpoor and unblack...
Perception Two: Scammon-Wattenberg has become somewhat beside the point; as the outpouring of voles for George Wallace and McGovern proved through the spring, Americans are in a mood of restless malaise, fed up with the war, with "big government" and "big business," with institutions that do not seem to work. Such a foul public temper is dangerous for any incumbent. In this climate, the reasoning goes, McGovern is eminently electable; Ihe conventional political wisdom does nol hold any longer...
With the race wide open and the depth of public unease indicated by the Wallace and Jackson votes, the Jackson strategists see a chance for their man to slip in as a kind of Wallace-in-spats. "The U.S. political center is angry," argues Jackson Manager Ben Wattenberg. "It's sullen. The question now is: Can any candidate deal with the frustrations constructively? Wallace has proved he can deal with them negatively. That's not what people want. Jackson can get the Wallace vote-no one else...