Falling Short

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Biden ridiculed Shultz's prepared remarks, suggesting that the Secretary's speech reminded him of the cries of "Go slow" that tried to put the brakes on the U.S. civil rights movement in the 1960s. Shultz, reading between the lines, said he "hated to hear a U.S. Senator call for violence." Biden erupted, his voice reaching heights of calculated fury. Jabbing the manuscript of Shultz's testimony with his index finger, he shouted, "I'm ashamed of this country that puts out a policy like this that says nothing, nothing! It says, 'Continue the same.' We put no timetable on it. We make no specific demands. We don't set it down. I'm ashamed that's our policy. That's what I'm ashamed of. I'm ashamed of the lack of moral backbone to this policy. You may be ashamed!"

By going ahead with his speech when he had nothing new to say, Reagan fed Congress's appetite for acting on its own. Indeed, if the President is lagging behind the public parade on South Africa, Congress is out ahead. In June, the House passed by a voice vote a sweeping bill that calls for the U.S. and most American companies to withdraw their assets from South Africa. The amendment, sponsored by California Democrat Ronald Dellums, gives companies 180 days to pack up and leave, a withdrawal that would involve $1.3 billion in direct investment. New loans would be halted and future trade prohibited, except for strategic minerals.

Senate Democrats, led by Ted Kennedy and Alan Cranston, have offered a slightly less drastic measure that includes relief for black South Africans and neighboring countries. Although it has little chance of being passed intact, it has forced moderate Senators to seek a compromise. Lugar, who pledged to work with both Shultz and Senate Democrats, expected to spend part of the weekend finishing a plan directed at putting maximum pressure on the white ruling class while sparing the black majority unnecessary economic repercussions. It expands on the limited measure imposed by Reagan last September, which prohibited the purchase of Krugerrands in the U.S. and the export of computers to South Africa. Among Lugar's proposals: ending landing rights in the U.S. for South African airlines, freezing U.S. bank accounts of South African citizens, and prohibiting American imports of steel and perhaps coal. Lugar will present his measure to the Foreign Relations Committee next week.

Even some of Reagan's supporters feel he made a basic political misjudgment by jumping into the debate over sanctions with nothing new to offer at a time when something more was needed. He seemed also to misread the depth of sentiment on the issue. While just about everyone is repelled by the oppression in South Africa and thinks something should be done about it, there is no clear consensus on what. Reagan, by heightening the visibility of the subject without offering a solution, succeeded only in exposing his own policies to closer inspection and greater criticism.

Black leaders saw Reagan's do-little approach as yet another example of his lack of sensitivity on racial matters and human rights, noting that throughout his career he has been late in acknowledging black causes. "This is the time for new actions and new methods," said Jesse Jackson, "not old methods with new rhetoric."