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Even the potentially divisive issue of national health insurance was defused. Senator Ted Kennedy has been forcefully advocating mandatory national health insurance since 1971. But he agreed to play down his opposition to Carter's less ambitious approach if the Administration would reaffirm its commitment to the 1976 party platform's broad goal of a "comprehensive national health insurance system with universal and mandatory coverage" at some unspecified date in the future. One of the dissident resolutions, however, called for immediate enactment of an insurance program. In an effort to blunt that resolution, representatives of Kennedy and the Administration worked out a further compromise calling on the incoming Congress to begin phasing in a health plan.
For Carter, the convention's chief value was the opportunity that it gave him to explain, promote and in some cases defend his policies. Particularly crucial for the President is winning Democrats' support for the unpopular spending cuts he feels must be made in the 1980 budget to help control inflation. "We will balance those sacrifices fairly," he promised. "If we err in this balance, it will be on the side of those who are most in need."
In a sense, Carter's tenuous hold on his party was illustrated best by the Democrats who did not show up in Memphis. Said D.N.C. Issues Coordinator Elaine Kamarck: "Our turndown list reads like a Who's Who of American politics." Senator Edmund Muskie decided to Christmas shop in Washington. New York Senator Daniel Moynihan and Florida Senator Richard Stone sent regrets. So did Colorado Party Head Sheila Kowal, who complained: "It seems strange that the party leaders should be putting so much money into a rally when they couldn't help us during the campaign." (The convention cost $650,000, even though delegates had to pay their own travel and hotel bills.) Other prominent no-shows:
Washington Senator Scoop Jackson, California Governor Jerry Brown and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Lane Kirkland. Those who sent regrets, however, should have no regrets about having missed a whiz-bang show; the convention was exceptionally dull.
Despite the no-shows, Carter's standing in his party was secure enough for him to go to Memphis, if not triumphantly, at least without fear. Says Minnesota Party Chairman Rick Scott: "It's almost like having a fair in the Middle Ages. Just having the event and bringing people together makes it important." The liberals upset about budget cuts realize Carter is in step with the public's antispending mood. Says Party Veteran Alan Baron: "Liberals read election returns, and they are scared." The result is a tenuous unity, which for the usually bickering Democrats can be a fit cause for celebration.