Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 27, 1993 TAG: 9305270224
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Knight-Ridder/Tribune and The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Despite a postcard campaign urging him to stay away from war memorials this weekend, White House officials said Wednesday the president will attend holiday ceremonies at the Vietnam War Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
Organizers of the event at the Vietnam wall say they hope Clinton's visit will help heal emotional wounds the unpopular war created.
White House Communications Director George Stephanopoulos said, "He is the president of all the people. He believes it's important to show his respect for the veterans who served in all our wars, and that's exactly why he's going to go."
Privately, some White House officials said Clinton decided to make the visit to silence doubts about his mettle as commander in chief and to move attention off the controversies that had consumed the White House for several days.
As Clinton sought to make an all-out push in the House for his economic program, the White House faced a fresh round of distractions Wednesday.
Photo technicians said they overheard Clinton say Wednesday that he was beginning to feel like "a punching bag."
Ross Perot, in a PBS television interview taped Tuesday, attacked Clinton about the dismissal of the White House travel staff and about the expensive haircut the president got aboard Air Force One at Los Angeles International Airport.
"What we have here is a person who does not have the background or experience for the most difficult job in the world, which we, the American people, have elected him to fill," Perot said. "If you were interviewing him for your company, and you had a medium-sized company, you wouldn't consider giving him a job anywhere above middle management."
On "Talking with David Frost," Perot said Clinton was "still doing things the Arkansas way, like trying to give the travel business as a political payoff."
Clinton responded, "We know he doesn't like my state, but he spent several million dollars to bad-mouth it last year, but that doesn't have much to do with America."
Secretary of State Warren Christopher distanced the administration from assertions by Peter Tarnoff, undersecretary of state for political affairs, who suggested the United States might have to retreat from its leadership in the world.
"I think the U.S. responsibility for leadership is undiminished in this new post Cold War period," Christopher said.
And press secretary Dee Dee Myers said White House officials have apologized to Nanette Hansen, the anchorwoman of WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H., who was asked by a White House aide to apply the president's makeup when no makeup person was available.
by CNB