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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 1988)
Page 2AThe Battalion/Friday, February 19, 1988 Opinion The presidential race is just another Olympic event With any luck, as you read this I’m in Dallas for the presidential debates. The front page probably car ries an account of last night’s mudslinging, and tomorrow you’ll be able to find out who “won” to night’s debate.i Sue Krenek Not what they said, mind you, just who won. Earlier this week the papers were all agog over George Bush’s comeback vic tory in New Hampshire, the win that raised him from the political dead and jump-started his campaign. (“The re ports of my death,” Bush quipped, “have been greatly exaggerated.”) Con ventional wisdom said Bush was nearly out of the race after his showing in the Iowa caucuses. A poor finish in New Hampshire would have been doom. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I find it amusing to look at how many delegates we’re talking about here. In absolute terms, the Iowa and New Hampshire contests are ridicu lously unimportant. But they mark the beginning of the horse race. The press is really good at covering the horse race. The Associated Press can be counted on to report the results of any poll that comes along. Issues occa sionally turn up on page 39. The polls make page one. Some candidates are considering dropping out of the race because on their poor showing so far. These are in telligent people. They understand that stumbling at the gate brands you as “u- nelectable.” Familiar with the bandwa gon effect, they know the press will con centrate on the early winners, while they’ll be lucky to get a mention on the late-late news. Bruce Babbitt may be a good candidate, but with only 4 percent of the New Hampshire vote, he’s outta here. Starts to seem like a sporting event, doesn’t it? And it really is. Tuesday night I was sort of halfway paying atten tion to the Olympic update. In between Jim McKay giving the figure skating scores and medal counts, ABC News was giving the New Hampshire scores and delegate counts. It’s all the same game, and after a while it’s hard to tell the difference be tween the two. Leading the U.S. hockey team, Bob Dole blows an early lead and is steam- rolled by a rejuvenated George Bush. Speedskater Gary Hart makes a tragic crash into the wall on the first turn and is out of contention. Paul Simon goes for a triple axel and misses. Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson are surprise medalists in the pair figure skating competition. Michael Dukakis’ win in downhill skiing keeps Richard Gephardt from getting his second gold medal. Sportscasters grouse that the voters have yet to win any medals at all. In the political arena, Pirmin Zur- briggen says he has no doubt he'll win over the U.S. hockey team in the Super Tuesday primary. Debi Thomas and Katarina Witt are tied in the polls, with Thomas claiming she’s invincible. Still don’t believe it’s all the same game? Listen to the competitors. After a while, the political devotees start to sound like they’d be more at home in a stadium. Watching the New Hampshire results pour in, one Bush supporter yelled, “Oh yeah! We’re No. 1! 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is our new ad dress!” Then again, Bob Dole can probably sympathize with American figure skater Jill Watson, who noted, “It was a bit of a surprise when 1 just slipped off my edge on the side-by-side double axels.” And some of the athletes have the makings of diplomats. As assistant So viet hockey coach Igor Dmitriev said, “1 would like to say the difference is noi much big now between Soviets and others.” And Witt, the East German ure skater and overwhelming knows better than to assume vicin “We are all human. We can mistakes. Whoever has the stroni nerve here has the greatest chantf win.” So the primaries and the Olymi start to merge before your eyes in aidJ vised orgy of statistics and scores ! do the candidates and athletes knon all the same game? Of course A: Dukakis summed it all up after the Kn I lampshire primary. “Tonight, here in New Hampsli our message came through clear,” he said. “We went for thegi and we got it.” Now if we can only find out Debi Thomas thinks about del spending. Sue Krenek is a senior journalism jor and editor o/The Battalion Mail Call There’s no blood feud here EDITOR: Melvin G. Brinkley, in his letter about Waclley, displayed the same type of narrow-mindedness and ignorance that brought this “blood” feud to campus. Much of what Mr. Brinkley says is false. Wadley has been collecting blood on campus since 1959. In that time, Ag gies have donated over 50,000 units. In past years, a four day drive brings in over 2,000 units. Only the blood that is unfit for human use is used for re search purposes. Contrary to many people’s beliefs, Wadley is non-profit. While Red Cross deals with communities, Wadley deals with organizations. Wadley will provide blood replacements for Aggie students, faculty, staff, former students and their families. All you need to do is contact the Student Government office at 845-3051. The “t-shirts and beer coozies” are financed from money donated by former students and other concerned individuals. It is true that Red Cross has had difficulty getting on campus. This is be cause some felt that having two blood drives a semester would burden the campus donators. Red Cross is allowed on campus. Every attempt is made to accommodate both organizations. The drives are separated by eight weeks so that individuals can donate to both. Giving to Red Cross or Wadley is rela tively the same. Whether you help save a life in the community, nation or world, you are still giving the gift of life. Support both the Red Cross and Wadley. Stephen M. Forrest ’88 3 The joys of the faculty club EDITOR: I would like to take this opportunity to address Mr. Morrison’s letter about the Faculty Senate (Feb. 16th Battalion). It seems to me that he is against the idea of having a faculty club for our professors just because they have advanced the idea of senior finals, beginning this semester. Here is my response: Our hard-working faculty not only teaches and “administers” finals, but they also work hard on their research fields in order to attract more state and federal research funds and give this university a better reputation to outsid ers and potential employers, who in turn, would have a better impression of A&M graduates. In other words, our graduates will have a better chance of getting a job and more money. Get the picture? T hey deserve a faculty club, no question about it! Morrison’s perception of being “burdened” with senior finals is typical of, to say the least, an unenlightened person. Any university worth its hard- earned reputation must administer finals to seniors. Every other university with at least a reasonably good reputation does so. One’s senior rank does not give him/her any special priviledges. He or she is still under the same rules, regulations and responsibilities as anyone else. If Mr. Morrison indeed thinks like he indicated, he should not be in college at all, much less an A&M senior. Antonio Chan Graduate Student Go away, Gary EDITOR: I can’t believe that Gary Hart is actually still running for president. And now he is basing his campaign on morals (like he has room to talk). He says his public morals differ greatly from his private morals. I find that difficult to believe, but even so, many government decisions are made during private conversations or in private meetings. What does that tell you about the quality of his leadership? We’ve already been having problems with ethics in our government. It’s one tradition I would not like to support by letting Hart get elected. Fellow Aggies, please consider the other candidates before you vote. Hart doesn’t care about the well-being of this country. Lie is not an honest leader. He’s already proven that. Karen Kosub ’90 Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter.must be signed and must include the classification, address and telephone number of the writer. The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Sue Krenek, Editor Daniel A. LaBry, Managing Editor Mark Nair, Opinion Page Editor Amy Couvillon, City Editor Robbyn L. Lister and Becky Weisenfels, News Editors Loyd Brumfield, Sports Editor Sam B. Myers, Photo Editor M hot sure. WHO tr's SUPPOSED TO 5E, EITHER, BUT VtA PRETTY SORE WE CAR NARROW VTDCWU TO THE REAGAN ERA- ..is peudn \(to w. 'fc\ 4. Sf Jil'. ■ ' Keep those ministers out of office There are some people who are running for presi dent. Two of them are ministers. That strikes some of our European friends as strange. Jeff Farmer Guest Columnist It ought to strike us that way, too. Why, Because neither one of them is qualified to hold the office. I am talking, of course, about Jesse Jackson and Pat Robertson. Mr. Jackson represents a “rainbow coalition” of mi norities: blacks, hispanics, the poor, the “economically dislocated” and others. Mr. Roberston represents various fla vors of fundamentalist Christians and probably some other conservatives. The reason these men have such “surprising ly” strong support is that these group are very under-represented in the pre sent system (some of them would claim that they are not represented at all). Mr. Jackson’s constituents have been poorly represented for a very long time — and their plight is easily ignored by those in the political mainstream. Mr. Roberston’s supporters have only re cently become aware of their minority status — and they are not amused. The fact that only lip-service is usually given to the concerns of both groups explains both the depth and breadth of the min isters’ political support. As a result, both parties are faced with the very real possibility of having to nominate (either for, president of vice president) a man who is not politically qualified. It is indeed strange. No legal firm is run by a physicist; no school su- perintendant is chosen from the ranks of aerospace engineers; no religious de nomination would choose as a leader a broker from Wall Street. Now some might claim that government is differ ent — don’t we have government “by the people?” Shouldn’t our representa tives be ordinary folks like the rest of us? Perhaps. Members of the House are often political newcomers; the clubby Senate sometimes profits by the experi ence of older and wiser heads. This process is good for everyone. We have, however only one presi dent. He faces difficult and complex po litical pressures and must make tough decisions involving both the broad sweep and the excruciating detail of government. Our two most recent presi dents have been Washington outsiders; they had experience as governors, but that was not adequate. They both had problems in foreign policy that can be traced (in hindsight, of course) to a lack of experience; they both had staff prob lems with people they brought with them from their home states; they lacked the Washingtom contacts so nec essary to finding out what was hajopen- Mr. Jackson and Mr. Roberston! shaking up the scene. They are givi some voiceless people a voice andtfl expanding the political debateJI should listen carefully to what they saying and stop dismissing the | they represent with a snort. ButneiiM one of them should be president. Jeff Farmer is a graduate student Editorial Policy Ttio Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa per operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the author, and do not necessarily rep resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, fac ulty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Department of Journalism. The Battalion is published Monday through Friday during Texas A&M regular semesters, except for holiday and examination periods. Mail subscriptions are $17.44 per semester, $34.62 per school vear and $36.44 per full year. Advertising rates furnished on request. Our address: The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1 111. Second class postage paid at College Station. TX 77843. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battal ion. 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M University, Col lege Station TX 77843-4 111. BLOOM COUNTY by BerKe BreatWj me n/ppie p/te/tM is PZAP, BlNKZey... MP T AM ASHAMec? IB/A5 A tvo-mlun& mfwamivr IN TH056 PH/WTV/yi /peAc&' A / MY H/ZALTH... MY fVRTVrte.,. MY MATEP/AC- &PfF ON THE HOCUHV VAO/ES OF m5 EMPTY &ENEPAVOA/... mo Mote s He/nes / &VY Y0U% cmA 0WAJ 0R ^ Fuse / PT&M/ l Kra mg and getting things done; re with Gognress have suffered. They tel have had their good points, butthefwl results should make us take a long look at candidates’ qualifications; here out. From this standpoint Mr. B excellent qualifications, Mr. Hart: Mr. Dole very good ones. The “runners” are perhaps adequatelyg® ified, except for the two ministers.Ml I have nothing against their theologwj training — some of America’sgreattsl leaders have been ministers. But tin gentlemen have little else going I them (except their constituents,whoaffi going all the way). Mr. Jackson has Wl his coalition for four years and hassp| ken with many foreign leaders. Robertson is a successful businessntfl All well and good. But they lackthesfl ciflc political and governmental expi ence they need. We cannot afford#[ the-job training for them. The tel president must know how to do ttif| and what can and cannot be donefte| the start. E Mar
