Politics: Most Disappointing

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The 1964 presidential campaign has been one of the most disappointing ever. It was going to be a confrontation between opposing philosophies; it turned out to be a wrestling match be tween volatile personalities. It was go ing to prove the vital difference be tween two strong political parties; it has merely shown that one, the G.O.P., is in need of great repair. It was going to pit liberal against conservative; but Lyndon Johnson has stated very few liberal tenets, and many an American conservative now doubts that Barry Goldwater really speaks his language. It was not going to be a "me too" cam paign; it has turned out to be one in which the principals largely shout "You're another."

Bombshells. To be sure, Goldwater began with a disadvantage. He had to run against peace, prosperity and an in cumbent President who, many thought, probably deserved a full term of his own. Thus, from the very start, Goldwater was told by the pollsters that he had little chance of winning. He ob viously felt that he would have to drop bombshells if he were to make a decent showing. Bombshells he dropped -and some exploded in his face.

His imprecise use of the language often made it difficult to know just where he stood, as did his offhand treatment of serious subjects. It also laid him open to misinterpretation. Is Goldwater really anxious to plunge the world into nuclear war? Of course not.

But millions of voters wondered. Time after time-on nuclear policy, farm subsidies, civil rights, TVA and social security-he seemed to take a firm stand, backed away, then complained bitterly about having been misquoted. More important, he made almost no major speech calculated to win him any new votes beyond those of the diehard, pre-San Francisco Goldwaterites.

But if Goldwater togged up the campaign, Johnson filled it with pettifoggery. Confident of victory, he had a readymade opportunity to set forth national policies and win a mandate for them. But he put off any action that might possibly prove embarrassing until after Nov. 3, and talked about, urgent matters only in generalities. He failed to deliver on his own pre-campaign pledge to furnish a blueprint for "the Great Society." He preferred to point his finger at church steeples and cry of his critics: "God forgive them, for they really know not what they do."

Bestsellers. Thus, what the campaign has really come down to is a back-alley fight featuring such pejorative words and phrases as "liar," "demagogue," "socialist," "irresponsible," "reckless," "soft on Communism," and "fascist." Scurrilous paperback books about both candidates have become bestsellers. Vicious television commercials have depicted Goldwater as a man willing to sprinkle a little girl's ice cream with cancer-causing strontium 90.