MISSOURI COMMENTARY; 'TIS THE SEASON TO BE IN DIALOGUE

The current buzzword is "dialogue." Think of it -- even Mohammed Khatami, the president of Iran, has proposed a "thoughtful dialogue" with the United States and the outside world.

The fashionable phrase under Lyndon Johnson was "come, let us reason together." In Jimmy Carter's time there was much talk of finding "partners" to work with. Somewhere along the line, "consensus" and "community" were the catchwords of togetherness. Under Bill Clinton, it's "dialogue."

We are dialoguing about ever so many things. Clinton directed Vice President Al Gore to dialogue in Japan about global warming. HHS Secretary Donna Shalala is dialoguing with hospitals, doctors and patients about chinks in the HMO armor.

Attorney General Janet Reno tried to dialogue with FBI director Louis Freeh. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright attempts time and again to get Israel and the PLO to put their hearts into dialoguing over the future of the West Bank.

Secretary of the Treasury Bob Rubin dialogues with the Southeast Asian finance ministers about all sorts of serious financial concerns.

For Clinton himself, race is the most urgent question confronting the country. His Democratic predecessors -- Johnson and Carter -- has similarly strong assessments about the importance of the problem of racial polarization. Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy, in contrast, did not have intense feelings about civil rights. Roosevelt was drawn to the issue by his wife, and Kennedy was compelled to act by worrisome events in the South -- just as Eisenhower was drawn reluctantly into racial matters by circumstances in Arkansas. Harry Truman's civil rights agenda was as much a product of the practical politics of his time as it was the result of high principle.

The Southerners -- Johnson, Carter, and now Clinton -- more naturally recognize the significance of racial polarization than do other presidents. They know from real life now institutionalized discrimination stifled educational and job opportunities for blacks in the South.

Johnson talked himself into believing that his "Great Society" would eradicate poverty and, in time, would eliminate the ills of discrimination. Clinton has his slogan: "One America in the 21st Century." both phrases are attractive and are nobly intended. But the racial barriers remain in place despite an abundance of "dialogue."

Every dispute does not have an achievable middle. Pro-choicers and pro-lifers can dialogue interminably and avail naught. Certain questions transcend the limits of compromise and are so deeply felt in everyday life that they defy resolution. A Civil War was fought when people could not "reason together."

Some issues involve such fundamental aspects of human nature that their resolution requires time as well as dialogue. Beginning with the anti-slavery movement of the early 19th century and continuing through the Johnson years, our nation has struggled through legislative action and other means to change not only habits, but hearts and minds as well. The hearts-and-minds bit is at best a work in progress.

We have legislated about fair housing, job opportunity, discrimination in the work place and public accommodations. Laws may influence public behavior, but may not affect entrenched attitudes. Just look at the housing patterns in most urban centers. The whites have fled to the distant suburbs. The poorest blacks remain in the city.

Great effort is made to attract minorities to our colleges and universities. In on-campus practice, however, blacks associate with blacks; whites with whites. One prestigious private university went so far as to establish a black dormitory.

In theater, blacks go to the Black Repertory in the city, whites attend the (white) Repertory Theater in the suburbs.

The Million Man Watch was for black males. Promise Keepers is basically for white males. For most Americans, Sunday morning church services remain the most segregated hour in American life.

John Quincy Adams, a forgotten president, is reborn through the efforts of Steven Spielberg's motion picture "Amistad." In real life Adams prophesied that "American democracy could never permanently tolerate human slavery." He was right. But no president since has been safe to predict that we would one day live in an integrated society of equal opportunities and equal access.

This will be my final regular column in the Southeast Missourian. I embarked on my journalistic career 11 years ago on a weekly basis. As fresh thoughts grew less frequent, we switched to every other week. Now, it's going to be at irregular intervals. I sincerely thank the Missourian and the other newspapers that have carried my column. Most importantly, I thank the readers who for the past decade have patiently endured my opinions and prose. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, I want to come back as the editor of an editorial page.

~Tom Eagleton of St. Louis is a former U.S. senator from Missouri.