Page 329 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

Bobby began to speak, referring to a small pack of file cards he took from his inside pocket. "Let me begin with an apology," he said. "I was involved in many of the early decisions on Vietnam, decisions which set us on our present path."

Beep yelled out: "Too damn right!" and the people around her laughed.

Bobby went on in his flat Boston accent. "I am willing to bear my share of the responsibility. But past error is no excuse for its own perpetuation. Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom. 'All men make mistakes,' said the ancient Greek Sophocles. 'But a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only sin is pride.'"

The audience liked that, and applauded. As they did so, Bobby looked down at his notes, and Walli saw that he was making a theatrical mistake. This should be a two-way exchange. The crowd wanted their star to look at them and acknowledge their praise. Bobby seemed embarrassed by them. This kind of political rally did not come easily to him, Walli realized.

Bobby continued on the subject of Vietnam but, despite the initial success of his opening confession, he did not do well. He was tentative, he stammered, and he repeated himself. He stood still, looking wooden, seeming reluctant to move his body or gesture with his hands.

A few opponents in the hall heckled him, but Walli and Beep did not join in. There was no need. Bobby was killing himself without assistance.

During a quiet moment, a baby cried. Out of the corner of his eye, Walli saw a woman get up and move toward the exit. Bobby stopped in midsentence and said: "Please don't leave, ma'am!"

The audience tittered. The woman turned in the aisle and looked at Bobby up on the stage.

He said: "I'm used to the sound of babies crying."

They laughed at that: everyone knew he had ten children.

"Besides," he added, "if you go the newspapers will say that I ruthlessly threw a mother and baby out of the hall."

They cheered at that: many young people hated the press for its biased coverage of demonstrations.

The woman smiled and returned to her seat.

Bobby looked down at his notes. For a moment he had come across as a warm human being. At that point he might have turned the crowd. But he would lose them again by returning to his prepared speech. Walli thought he had missed his opportunity.

Then Bobby seemed to realize the same thing. He looked up again and said: "I'm cold in here. Are you cold?"

They roared their agreement.

"Clap," he said. "Come on, that'll warm us up." He began to clap his hands, and the audience did the same, laughing.

After a minute he stopped and said: "I feel better now. Do you?" And they shouted their assent again.

"I want to talk about decency," he said. He was back to his speech, but now he was not referring to his notes. "Some people think that long hair is indecent, and bare feet, and smooching in the park. I'll tell you what I think." He raised his voice. "Poverty is indecent!" The crowd shouted approval. "Illiteracy is indecent!" They applauded again. "And I say, right here in California, that it is indecent for a man to work in the fields with his back and his hands without ever having hope of sending his son to college."

No one in the room could doubt that Bobby believed what he was saying. He had put away his file cards. He became passionate, waving his arms, pointing, banging the lectern with a fist; and the listeners responded to the strength of his emotion, acclaiming every fervent phrase. Walli looked at their faces and recognized the expressions he saw when he himself was up onstage: young men and women staring in rapture, eyes wide, mouths open, faces shining with adoration.

No one ever looked at Gene McCarthy that way.

At some point, Walli realized, he and Beep had quietly dropped their TRAITOR banner to the floor.

Bobby was speaking about poverty. "In the Mississippi Delta I have seen children with distended stomachs and facial sores from starvation." He raised his voice. "I don't think that's acceptable!

"Indians living on their bare and meager reservations have so little hope for the future that the greatest cause of death among teenagers is suicide. I believe we can do better!

"The people of the black ghettoes listen to ever greater promises of equality and justice as they sit in the same decaying schools and huddle in the same filthy rooms warding off the rats. I am convinced that America can do better than that!"

He was building up to the climax, Walli saw. "I come here today to ask for your help over the next few months," Bobby said. "If you, too, believe that poverty is indecent, give me your support."

They yelled that they would.

"If you, too, think it is unacceptable that children starve in our country, work for my campaign."

They hurrahed again.

"Do you believe, as I do, that America can do better?"

---