Race is not America's number one problem, despite President Clinton's efforts to make it the focal point of the 1998 elections. The problem, according to PNS commentator Julio Calderon, is politicians who think, or want the public to think, that race is the problem. Calderon, a former TV news reporter in Oakland and Fresno, and past president of the Mexican-American Political Association (MAPA) is an information officer for the State of California.

SACRAMENTO -- With the National Dialogue on Race -- now holding "show and tell" programs in cities and towns across the country -- President Bill Clinton has moved to make race the central issue in the 1998 election campaign.

Clinton missed out on the 1960s and 1970s, and now he wants to be known as the president who finished the task left undone at President Kennedy's tragic death.

But the focus of his national dialogue is a sham. "Race" is a problem to Bosnian Serbs and Croats, to Hutus and Tutsis, to Palestinians and Israelis. These people tried to do something about "race" but they could not, they can not. Neither can Clinton or the federal government, and I thank God for that.

We can point to many countries where there is violent conflict between races, yet in our own United States immigrants of differing races from these same nations live in relative harmony.

The focus has to be on what each group -- race, nationality -- contributes to our social structure, the diversity of music, foods, poetry. Mariachis are now playing with the great orchestras, mixing their culture with those brought from Europe. Different races bring different cultures, and different languages -- and that is the rub.

If two Filipinos are talking to each other in Tagalog, and happen to glance our way, we think they are talking about us. But that paranoia is a human thing, not a racial thing, based on our inability to understand the language or the culture of another.

Culture and language are the factors that guarantee a dialogue on race based on the black and white experience will fail. Culture and language have made it impossible for African Americans and Latinos, including black Latinos, to form political coalitions.

The problem is that politicians do see "race" as the problem. Race is not the problem. Children attending dilapidated schools taught by inexperienced teachers from outdated books -- that is a problem. Lack of economic development in some areas is a problem. Children playing in their yards being killed by stray bullets is a problem.

The "National Dialogue On Race" is designed to give the appearance of doing something about the "problem" to divert attention from the government's failure to guide us toward a colorless society. The "dialogue" will only widen the gap of understanding between minorities and non-minorities, by seeming to favor one group over another.

If a national dialogue is to succeed, it must address issues from the perspective of the national good. The problem is poverty. Poverty is not a race issue -- each problem faced by minorities is also faced by non-minorities. If politicians want to "help" minorities, they should focus the dialogue on improving educational facilities and the quality of education, on economic development that provides opportunities for new businesses and employment, on public safety in the poorest neighborhoods. A political dialogue that focuses on race will only serve to magnify genetic differences, not our similarities as Americans.

There is weight to problems of racism and bigotry. They exist. We have, however, made great strides. The present call for a national dialogue has but one purpose -- political expediency.

I can't help wondering whether the national dialogue is merely a way of keeping the "race card" in play. The most recent announcement of new proposals from Vice President Al Gore on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, of new spending on civil rights issues, lends credibility to this hypothesis. Republicans are expected to object, and this will let Democrats paint them as anti-minority.

Is this a cynical view? It may be, but I can't help but feel, "been there, done that, bought the tee-shirt."