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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 10, 1999)
,he Battalion o PINION Page 7 • Thursday, June 10, 1999 ) \ iove illary Clinton climbs ut on a limb in New York Madeleine Albright keeps barking up the wrong tree Ellen tt Scot! 116 nnoti ivsten ri here is, as most people are aware, a time and a place for everything. Hillary Clinton, the state of New York and the eai 2000 do not proper- this criterion. BS|®Tllary Clinton is con- n 01 idlring a run for the s ' m f ielate seat from New br] in the year 2000. If lel exploratory commit- ee, established on June ', las any intelligence at mark Jljit will return and give PASS^WATERS leithis report: “Do not >e foolish.” Ho-si edy v how She would be better off going to see Ti- anic and rooting for the ship, and there are nore than a few reasons why such a run vould sink her. ■The first and simplest reason is she is not jualified. She has never spent a day in offi- :ial residence in the city, county or state of 'lew York. ®dore importantly, she has never held an dieted office. What is her claim to this seat? That she is the wife of the President? would appear that Mrs. Clinton fancies herself to be the Robert Kennedy of the 1990s. Kennedy, a Massachusetts boy to the core, was elected to the Senate from New York in the 1960s. At that point, he had nev- tenen: er been elected to any public office, nor had Tom he really lived in New York, fell, e its so nc ;h& i Id.: obaT ‘or su fad, if: : suclli What: iinela! is onl r m hat Mrs. Clinton is forgetting is that he was related to a President who had been murdered, and that he ran for the Senate while sympathy for the Kennedys was very high. Kennedy was also a very capable attor ney general; he had proven himself to be good at doing things other than going on television to complain about “vast right wing :on spiracles.” ■As weak as it sounds, being First Lady is irobably Mrs. Clinton’s strongest qualifica- ion. But if she were to mention that she was he tsarina of the aborted health care reform )lan in 1994, she would be laughed off the ! flHpe. There have been many goof-ups dur- ng Bill Clinton’s administration, but Mrs. dinton’s work on the health care issue :rashed and burned quicker than most. ^Linder her leadership, this effort was so tungled that it was shot down by a congress ' till controlled by the Democratic Party. This s not something that she can. point to in Dr ier to show how effective she is at getting hings done. ■Also, Mrs. Clinton does not have the per- opality needed to hold up over a long cam- iaign. She is a rather private woman, who ?nds to take criticism from the media per- onally. She is to be credited for how she has / efended her daughter’s privacy during the ast seven years, but such a quest for per- p,ai onal privacy will not help in a political race. BawB-jer refusal to answer personal questions i a recent “60 Minutes” interview shows he does not understand that. If someone ixtuie uns f or 0 ffi cej they become a public citizen, rooked/Wether th e y jj^e it or not. m- ! Such questions, despicable as they may e, are acceptable by today’s media stan- y ba' ards. President Clinton is a very people-ori- ):30P f nted person. He craves attention, especially av from the fairer sex. Mrs. Clinton, on the oth er hand, would just as soon be left alone. Couple this with her obvious intelligence, and Mrs. Clinton has often looked arrogant and aloof. Hillary Clinton, as has been well documented, also has quite a temper. Any candidate that runs for the Senate faces a constant media presence. The fact that she is the wife of the President will make the press crunch even harder. It is not difficult to imagine her lashing out at someone — in the worst case for her, the press — and sabotaging her own campaign. There are two names Mrs. Clinton should be wary of: Rudy Guliani and William Jefferson Clinton. Guliani is the mayor of New York City. The other guy needs no introduction. It is becoming increasingly likely that Clinton will face stiff competition from Guliani. While the media has made a lot of noise about alleged police brutality in New York, it cannot be denied that Guliani has done a magnificent job as mayor. New York City is better off now than it was in 1994; crime is down, the city is much cleaner and Times Square has gone from a smut palace to a family-oriented area. Guliani is also a master campaigner and one a novice politician should avoid. Mrs. Clinton is running in the shadow of her husband. If A1 Gore is suffering in the polls from “Clinton weariness,” what is going to hap pen to another Clinton? Also, Mrs. Clinton must establish her own policies. This can be very damaging, to both her and her husband, as people will analyze the similarities and differences between the two, and nitpick at them both. With her husband still in power, this pre sents her with a no-win situation. Hillary Clinton’s attempt to define her self as a politician could easily sabotage her own husband’s attempt to redefine his presidency. It has been said golf exposes character. Hillary Clinton should consider the New York Sen ate race as her Pebble Beach, and she has been given only a putter to play with. Considering that she will be running against her own lack of qualifications, her demeanor, her hus band and a popular may or, it looks like there are a lot of water hazards in the -• CALEB MCDANIEL ■ - nil % , way. Mark Passwaters is a graduate student in electrical engineering. vr Uti :z ba'T ene’s lion George W. Bush fails to see trees for the forest I t is sometimes hard to avoid the dis tinct impression that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is not all that bright. In a recent career filled with bungles spun to the > public as successes, Albright has consistently disap pointed the standards of good sense and clear- thinking that few have come to expect from the Clinton administra tion’s foreign policy establishment. It is even increasingly hard to remember the days of her initial appointment as Secre tary, when foreign officials around the world praised Albright for her charming blend of machismo and forthrightness. It is said Jesse Helms even took her out on a date once. But she hardly looks like Washington’s most eligible bachelorette anymore. It would be hard, after all, to imagine making dinner conversation with the Secretary. “This veal cutlet sure is tasty,” her would-be wooer might say. “We’ve said all along ^ that the veal cutlet had better be tasty or else the bombing will continue. The veal has not exactly been the kind of meat we could trust in the past, so the ball is in its court. We’ve said this all along,” she might respond. “Well, at any rate, the as paragus is well-done,” her date might try more timidly. “It’s too soon to say. Un til we have proof of verifi able withdrawal, it would be impossible to comment on the asparagus. But let me say we have said this all along. We have made our selves very clear to the aspara gus that it cannot be declared veil-done until it has stood be fore the tribunal. If it can stand straight, then we can celebrate, but if it goes limp, the bombing will have to continue. We’ve said this all along. ” The night would certainly be a long one for Albright’s companion. And the night has certainly been long for her country. Albright’s statements on Kosovo sound more like the ram- blings of a trained parrot than the reasoning of an able leader. Her pun dits are losing their patience for more than one reason. In the first place, the Clinton policy on Kosovo spearheaded by Albright has proven to be a stu pendous failure. The original NATO mission in Kosovo — to relieve the suffering of Kosovar Albanians — remains unaccomplished. In fact, all re ports seem to suggest NATO’s air strikes have only made the plight of ethnic Albanians more excruci ating. The hundreds of thousands of refugees still pouring into neighboring countries have creat ed a humanitarian crisis, and NATO’s strikes have done nothing to stem the tide of the emigrants. 'up s to t is incredibly easy to be popu lar with everyone by refusing Lto state an opinion on any- ing. George W. Bush obviously has ade this his mantra, if not his iresidential campaign slogan, he Grand Old Party’s great Tite hope from Midland, be- ?ve it or not, has continued to Because the first few weeks of the air campaign targeted command-and-control centers instead of military field units, Milo sevic’s troopers carried on their dastardly business of ethnic cleansing well into the war. Moreover, for all NATO’s promises of precision, civilian casualties have been alarmingly high, not to mention the monu mental catastrophe at the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. With these dubious accomplishments to her name, it is no wonder the nation seems tired when she continues to offer up the same old, same old in press conferences and interviews. Larry King’s irrepressible ability to keep guests on the hot seat tested Albright in an interview June 3. Predictably, Albright began the interview with her tried and (possibly) true tactic of regurgitating NATO’s demands, just to make sure for the billionth time that everyone knew them. “The terms and conditions, which I’ve said to you before on this show, are: [Milo sevic] has to stop the violence; all Serb forces have to be withdrawn; the refugees have to be able to go back; an international force has to be able to go in there with NATO at its core.” Recognizing this spiel to be a bit outdated in light of Milosevic’s reported acceptance of these very demands, King pressed the Secre tary, “If he’s accepted it and they’ve accept ed it, why are you hedging?” Albright, never one for originality, re sponded to this piercing inquiry by repeat ing herself. “We have to make sure that the forces all get out according to a specified timetable, and that we’re able to get the international security force with NATO at its core in, and 1 then get the refugees back,” she said. Such repetition is partly understandable. With sincere respect, her fellow citizens are willing to grant that hers must be one of the most unwanted and exhausting jobs in the country. But while occasional forbearance of Albright’s “hedging” might be in order, some things are inexcusable. The country has a right to expect, for instance, that its leading diplomat will be, well, diplomatic. Instead, Albright has made herself into a pressurized container of bombast, as sure as Old Faithful to explode at any moment. It is in those moments when a bit of spontaneous personality actually makes it through Albright’s web of carefully-planned statements that her aptitude for the job seems most questionable. It is when she says the really weird things that the worry ing begins. In response to a recent press conference question about the lessons to be drawn from the Kosovo episode, what induced her to re spond, “Well, I’m not going to do psycho babble on Milosevic, and I certainly am not going to do it on myself?” “Psycho-babble?” Weird. And what perverse muse possessed her to respond to a Larry King question about the imminence of NATO victory, “I think it’s too early to break out the champagne?” Too early? Will Albright someday sit around the White House making toasts about how wonderful Kosovo was? At least one thing is sure. If there will be such a celebration, the country should pray Jesse Helms is not there with her. Caleb McDaniel is a junior history major. BEVERLY MIRELES ad the early presidential nomi- ation polls without letting an opinion slip, ontii# Leaders, by definition, lead. However, Bush is W taking a name for himself with his opinion-free alion's 3r § es! ances on everything from Littleton to hate-crimes nasne# ^■lation. .srepoim® Giving state issues the brunt of his political aften- an is one thing, but not allowing for any other ews to surface is another. The most he could uster about Kosovo was that he supported the sol- ers, which is not so much of an opinion as it is a aniU' C andatory political statement. | Stoyly vying for the presidency, Bush has made uch of his political record in Texas. But for those ho actually live in Texas, it would not be a big leap ^ say George might just be a big tease. If his intended presidency will be modeled on his gubernatorial tenure, then the nation does not have much to look forward to, as far as meaningful legis lation goes. Rosy as the past seems, Bush’s path to wards the presidency is a murky one if he keeps up his brand of leadership. When Bush ran for a second term as governor, he ran on a platform of compassionate conservatism, something that he has yet to describe in anything but ambiguous terms. So far, the policy °f compassionate conservatism seems to be a misnomer, better described as insin cere idealism. Good examples of this can be found in the legis lature for which Bush has taken credit. One new law has lowered the age at which a child can receive the death penalty to 14- Thanks, G.W. That is compas sion beyond measure. What is more disconcerting is that he quickly promises and then promptly forgets. On the campaign trail. Bush was quick to speak Mark McPherson/The Battalion Spanish and visit West Texas, but now he is secure in his office, the “holding hands in racial equality” ship has sailed. Not that Bush is racist — far from it- But his elitist outlook has not boded well for His- panics recently. When .a nuclear reactor dump site was proposed in Sierra Blanca, Bush was very much in support of it, much to the chagrin of many of his Hispanic supporters. Just speaking token Spanish phrases makes a mockery of his promise making in Texas, to say the least. On the national level, that policy will hurt him. Had Bush run a modest campaign, not promising to change anything, perhaps his generic policymak ing would be acceptable. However, he relentlessly pursued votes, promis ing and cajoling his way into office. His easy-going popularity won him the governorship and might win him the nomination. As a GOP nominee hopeful, he is a great campaigner. He can shake hands with the best of them, and he is a consummate fund-raiser. If he can do one thing, it is the pocketbook shake-down. The man has more donations than Jer ry’s kids. However, campaign skills are not enough. If he seriously wants the presidential nomination. Bush is going to have to start talking more and squirming less. The public may be a little on the skittish side when it comes to extremist stances on the issues • (see Pat Buchanan or Alan Keyes), but empty posi tions on important ones will only guarantee short lived popularity. From foreign policy to controversial domestic is sues, Bush has been AWOL, opinion-wise. But he is in denial if he thinks a presidential campaign will mirror the cake walk he had against Garry Mauro. Soon enough, Bush will have to talk about the is sues, and people will be disappointed to find out the younger Bush is not the savior the GOP is looking for. Putting on a good show for the audience is Bush’s strong suit, but once the campaigning circus is over, he will still be just a performer. Beverly Mireles is a junior microbiology major.
