,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.