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Boston Educator Offers A Bold Campaign Style
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| Contributor | Craverguy |
| Last Edited | Craverguy Oct 09, 2008 11:21pm |
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| Category | Profile |
| News Date | Saturday, April 7, 1990 05:20:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | John R. Silber is not a conventional candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor of Massachusetts.
His stock speech often includes blasts at incompetent teachers, the women's movement, lawyers, welfare, teen-age sex and television - all things that he contends are causing the decline of America.
As a remedy, the 63-year-old president of Boston University may offer homilies from McGuffey's readers or invoke the example of fifth-century Athens, ''where on a single afternoon you might meet Socrates or Aristophanes.''
The question for Mr. Silber, a native of Texas, is whether his brash, idiosyncratic views can ignite a popular groundswell in a year of widespread disenchantment with politics as usual in Massachusetts. When he announced his candidacy in January, Mr. Silber was given a good chance of doing precisely that, especially at a time when Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, who has dominated the state for the last 16 years, is leaving office.
But in the first few weeks of his campaign, Mr. Silber, more accustomed to the argumentative Socratic method of teaching than the cautious nuances of politics, quickly developed a reputation for being too outspoken. He described Massachusetts as ''a welfare magnet'' for immigrants, for example, and called Lowell ''the Cambodian capital'' of the United States.
'I Don't Speak Plastic'
There is some talk in political circles that Mr. Silber's remarks are part of a deliberate strategy intended to appeal to conservatives or disaffected blue-collar Democrats. But his friends believe Mr. Silber was speaking spontaneously, simply following his combative nature. ''I don't speak plastic like other politicians,'' he said with pride in an interview. But candor may have its price. ''Unfortunately, I think his reputation for controversy now precedes him and this blots out his substance,'' said Thomas Kiley, a respected political consultant here who is not associated with any candidate for governor in this year's race. |
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