Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review Oct. 2, 2000 / 3 Tishrei, 5761

David Limbaugh

David Limbaugh
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Wes Pruden
Debbie Schlussel
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports


Clinton’s fragmented presidency


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- WE NEED to take the White House back. No, I’m not talking about the selling of the Lincoln bedroom or the debasement of the Oval Office. The American people need to recapture the executive branch.

Presently, the executive branch is bereft of leadership and out of control. It is being held hostage to the political interests of Bill Clinton. The resulting chaos is a national embarrassment.

Surely even Clinton’s defenders would agree that he is nothing if not a consummate political animal. From his incessant use of polls to formulate policy to his exploitation of gun tragedies, from sabotaging his own Medicare task force to orchestrating government shutdowns for partisan advantage, Clinton consistently puts politics above principle.

The framers considered, but rejected the idea of multiple presidents. They understood the importance of a single, energetic president speaking with one voice.

Repeatedly, President Clinton has permitted dissenting voices to disintegrate the slightest appearance of unity in the executive branch.

Take Hillary’s Senate run. The very idea of a first lady running for high office and subjecting the interests of the presidency to internal conflicts of interest would have been unimaginable before this narcissistic couple graced the White House.

Before some of you get your backs up, I’m not referring to any gender thing here. The same thing would apply if Hillary were president and Bill were the First Husband -- but while we’re at it, perish that thought.

Remember when candidate Hillary was urging President Bill to grant clemency to the FALN Puerto Rican terrorists? Do you recall them pretending to communicate through their public press releases and insisting they weren’t discussing the matter privately, while they were weekending at Camp David? It is more than unseemly for such disharmony to emanate from the White House.

Since the self-indulgent Clintons got away with it, candidate Al Gore thought he’d try it, too. So he publicly lobbied President Bill to release the Strategic Petroleum Reserve -- while I’m sure the two never discussed it in private. Doubtlessly stricken by the utter novelty of Gore’s ingenious suggestion, Clinton agreed to release the surplus oil.

Next, we had the president himself, publicly contradicting his top two officials in the executive branch, Attorney General Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis Freeh, about the handling of the Wen Ho Lee case and Lee’s pretrial incarceration. Political Bill apparently experienced an irresistible impulse to distance himself from Judge James A. Parker’s stinging rebuke of the Justice Department and the FBI for misleading him and mistreating Lee. Then, we learned about candidate Hillary pandering to Chinese-Americans in New York, decrying stereotyping and discrimination in the Lee case. Hillary reportedly told her sympathetic audience that government officials ought not to let their racial prejudices and anti-Chinese emotions interfere with their duties.

Hillary made her disparaging remarks about her husband’s top executive officials just a few days before some of those same officials were defending their treatment of Lee in testimony before a Senate Judiciary Committee task force. James Robinson, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said the judge’s criticisms were misguided because he was unaware of the extent of plea-bargaining that occurred with Lee. Attorney General Reno went further. “Dr. Lee is no hero. He is not an absentminded professor. He committed a very serious calculated crime, and he pled guilty to it,” she said.

Well, which is it, Mr. President? Is Lee a victim of racial profiling or a traitor? As long as Bill Clinton is president it will be impossible for us to sort out the truth among the disparate voices. The Lee case is a good illustration of the importance of leadership and character in the chief executive. Above all else, we must be able to trust our president on national security issues. But we cannot.

Can you imagine what would happen in a major company if top-level executives and spouses were forever publicly undermining the CEO’s authority? Heads would roll.

They won’t roll at the White House, though, because President Clinton is deliberately allowing the dissemination of inconsistent messages. One way or another, disunity serves his various political purposes.

It’s time to reunify the executive branch. It’s time to restore leadership and trust to Pennsylvania Avenue. Hopefully, help is on the way.



JWR contributor David Limbaugh is an attorney practicing in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and a political analyst and commentator. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

WND

Up

09/27/00: Liberal media doth protest too much
09/25/00: AlGore: Turning dreams into nightmares
09/20/00: Something fishy's going on
09/18/00: It's the liberalism, stupid
09/13/00: An open letter to open-minded cynics
09/11/00: The virtues of going negative
09/06/00: On a mission for marriage
09/04/00: Al Gore's 'Trivial Pursuits'
08/30/00: Lieberman and the paradox of liberal 'tolerance'
08/28/00: A campaign divided against itself
08/23/00: Al Gore's trickle-down populism
08/21/00: Prosperity without a clue
08/16/00: AlGore can run but he can't hide
08/14/00: When hate speech is OK
08/09/00: Bush: The pundits' enigma
08/07/00: GOP convention: Live or Memorex?
08/02/00: The first attack dog
07/31/00: The Cheney taint?
07/26/00: The anti-gun bogeyman
07/24/00: The raging culture war
07/19/00: Is Hillary 'Good for the Jews'?
07/17/00: How dare you, George?
07/12/00: Jacoby's raw deal
07/10/00: The perplexities of liberalism
07/05/00: Big Al and big oil
07/03/00: Partial-birth and total death
06/28/00: Some questions for you, Mr. Gore
06/26/00: Supreme Court assaults religious freedom
06/21/00: Waco: We are the jury
06/19/00: "Outrage" just doesn't quite cut it anymore!
06/14/00: Al Gore: Government's best friend
06/12/00: Say goodbye to medical privacy
06/07/00: Elian: Whose hands were tied?
06/05/00: Who, which, what is the real Al Gore?
06/01/00: Legacy-building idea for Clinton
05/30/00: Clinton: Above the law or not?
05/24/00: Not so fast, Hillary
05/22/00: Gore's risky, fear-mongering schemes
05/17/00: Can Bush risk pro-choice running mate?
05/15/00: Right to privacy, Clinton-style
05/10/00: Patrick Kennedy and his suit-happy fiddlers
05/08/00: Don't shoot Eddie Eagle
05/03/00: Congress caves to Clinton, again?
05/01/00: The resurrection of outrage
04/28/00: A picture of Bill Clinton's America
04/19/00: President Clinton: Teaching children responsibility
04/17/00: Elian, Marx and parental rights
04/12/00: Elian, freedom deserve a hearing
04/10/00:The fraying of America
04/05/00: Noonan: End Clintonism now
04/03/00: Bush: On going for the gold
03/29/00: Phantasma-Gore-ia
03/27/00: Treaties, triggers, tobacco and tyrants
03/22/00: Media to Bush: Go left, young man
03/20/00: Stop the insanity
03/15/00: OK Al Gore: Let's go negative
03/13/00: Deifying of the center
03/08/00: The media, the establishment and the people
03/01/00: McCain's coalition-busting daggers in GOP's heart
02/28/00: Bush's silver lining in McMichigan
02/24/00: A conservative firewall, after all
02/22/00: Bush or four more of Clinton-Gore?
02/16/00: Substance trumps process
02/14/00: The campaign finance reform mirage
02/09/00: President McCain: End of the GOP as we know it?
02/07/00: From New Hampshire to South Carolina
02/02/00: SDI must fly
01/31/00: Veep gores Bradley
01/26/00: The issues gap
01/24/00: GOP: Exit, stage left
01/20/00: Nationalizing congressional elections
01/18/00: Do voters really prefer straight talk?
01/12/00: Media's McCain efforts may backfire
01/10/00: Conservative racism myth
01/05/00: Just one more year of Clintonian politics
01/03/00: McMedia?
12/27/99: Al Gore: Bullish on government
12/22/99: Bradley's full-court press
12/20/99: Bush: Rendering unto Caesar
12/15/99: Beltway media bias
12/13/99: White House ambulance chasing
12/08/99: Clinton's labor pains
12/06/99:The lust for power
12/01/99: In defense of liberty
11/29/99: Are Republicans obsolete?
11/24/99: Say you're sorry, Mr. President
11/22/99: Architects of victory
11/17/99: Trump's tax on freedom
11/15/99: GOP caves again
11/10/99: Triangulation and 'The Third Way'
11/08/99: Sticks and stones
11/03/99: Keyes vs. media lapdogs
11/01/99: Signs of the times
10/27/99: The false charge of isolationism
10/25/99: A matter of freedom
10/20/99: Clinton's mini-meltdown
10/18/99: Senate GOP shows statesmanship
10/13/99: Senate must reject nuclear treaty
10/11/99: Bush bites feeding hand
10/06/99: Jesse accidentally opens door for Pat
10/04/99: Clinton and his media enablers
09/29/99: Reagan: Big-tent conservatism
09/27/99: The Clinton/Gore taint?
09/22/99: Have gun (tragedy), will travel
09/20/99: Hillary's blunders and bloopers
09/15/99: GOP must remain conservative
09/13/99:Time for Bush to take charge, please
09/10/99: Bush's education plan: Dubya confounds again
09/07/99: Pat, savior or spoiler?
09/02/99: Character doesn't matter?
08/30/99: Should we judge?
08/25/99: Dubyah's drug question: Not a hill to die on
08/23/99: Should Dubyah start buying soap ... for all that mud?
08/16/99: 'W' stands for 'winner'
08/11/99: The truth about tax cuts
08/09/99: Hillary: Threading the needle
08/04/99: What would you do?
08/02/99: No appeasement for China
07/30/99: Hate Crimes Bill: Cynical Symbolism
07/26/99: It’s the 'moderates', stupid
07/21/99: JFK Jr. and Diana: the pain of privilege
07/19/99: Smith, Bush and the GOP
07/14/99: GOP must be a party of ideas
07/12/99: Gore's gender gap
07/08/99: Clinton’s faustian bargain: our justice
07/06/99: The key to Bush's $36 million
06/30/99: Gore: a soda in every fountain
06/28/99: 'Sacred wall' or religious barrier?
06/23/99: GOP must lead in foreign policy
06/21/99: Crumbs of compassion
06/16/99: Compassionate conservatism: face-lift or body transplant?
06/10/99: Victory in Kosovo? Now What?

© 2000, CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.