Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 30, 1994 TAG: 9405300062
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: WILLIAM NEIKIRK CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long
His own.
The president is captive of firmly held perceptions that, for all his good intentions, he is not quite yet up to the job of world leader. At home and abroad, fairly or unfairly, his foreign policy is widely viewed as either being incoherent or nonexistent.
And then there's his personal mili tary problem. Many Americans feel that Clinton, who avoided the draft and protested the Vietnam War as a student at Oxford University, exudes hypocrisy every time he assumes the role as commander in chief, even ceremonially.
For his own political health and for the sake of a foreign policy he has found difficult to articulate in a confusing post-Cold War era, President Clinton needs his own D-Day from these shackling impressions.
But getting there will no doubt require more than this eight-day trip to Italy, Great Britain and France and the ultimate ceremonial extravaganza planned at Normandy.
Many analysts say the Clinton administration still has a long way to go in developing a foreign policy responsive to economic and political realities. On a trip that begins Wednesday in Rome, Clinton aims to show the opposite. In several speeches before departure, he has sought to define U.S. interests more sharply and to lay out general ground rules for using U.S. power.
To the critics, these ground rules are so general as to be meaningless.
Clinton says that in these new and complex times he has enunciated policies that protect the nation's vital interests, including moving to reduce nuclear weapons in the former Soviet republics, expanding trade, limiting violence in Bosnia and threatening military action against military rulers in Haiti.
"I continue to try to look for new solutions," Clinton said recently. "If we look for new solutions when old solutions don't work, does that mean we don't have a coherent foreign policy? I don't think so."
Other presidents, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan among them, have been hobbled battling perceptions of naivete and inexperience in foreign affairs. Ford and Carter never quite overcame them, but Reagan managed to win grudging respect after his military buildup contributed to the demise of the Soviet Union.
In recent months, Clinton's poll results indicate the American people have become less supportive of his foreign policy and in the president's leadership in foreign affairs. Elected after a campaign emphasizing the domestic economy, the president until recently spent little time on foreign policy. His statements in recent months indicate he is paying more attention and developing more sophistication.
In a speech to graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy last Wednesday, he gave a sober view of U.S. limitations in trying to resolve conflicts like those in Bosnia. These "rarely submit to instant solutions," he said. But he indicated that in some cases the United States might intervene while other times it may not, depending on the "weight" of U.S. interests.
This vagueness is the basis for much of the criticism, because it smacks of ad hoc planning on a grand scale. Critics cite flip-flops on foreign policy issues and say the administration has developed a series of case-by-case responses to various world hot spots that don't amount to a truly coherent policy.
John Steinbruner, director of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, said the administration's priority should be speedily integrating Russia into the West's security and economic systems, followed by a clear policy to prevent or limit the "spontaneous disintegration of states" such as Bosnia and Rwanda.
Linda Jamison, foreign policy analyst in the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Clinton has "not clearly articulated what U.S. national interests are." She said developing a foreign policy that will win public support will take time and urged Clinton to launch a public debate to develop one.
"I don't think the president will lose any ground with the American people by saying that he is still trying to figure it out," Jamison said.
Clinton is trying to gain respect in foreign policy in the traditional way for presidents - going abroad. Foreign trips usually are a political plus, providing an opportunity to strut on the world stage as commander-in-chief of the most powerful nation. With his speeches and his contacts with foreign leaders, Clinton hopes to instill more confidence in his policies and himself.
When the Cold War was raging, such trips were indeed advantageous, because U.S. allies relied on U.S. security; in turn, they were willing to go along with the United States on economic questions. Now the advantage is not so clear.
This trip also carries a risk because of Clinton's past anti-war activities and reports that he tried to avoid the draft.
"I think it will be a triumph for Clinton just not to look too badly," said Gary Hufbauer, an analyst at the Institute for International Economics. "The D-Day symbolism really works against him given his prior military record, or lack thereof."
Hufbauer said the July meeting of the leaders of the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, Italy, Canada and France provides a better chance for Clinton to play the role of world leader. There, he also will will meet with Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
"The big question is this: Can Clinton in this new era lead in the same way his predecessors could?" Hufbauer asked, expressing his own doubts. He said the United States needs to rethink not only security relationships but economic relationships that are eroding.
The D-Day trip will provide some powerful images featuring the president. At Nettuno Beach in Italy, he will celebrate the liberation of that country. He will meet with Pope John Paul II and speak to the citizens of Rome. In Britain he will meet with Prime Minister John Major and speak at both Cambridge and Oxford universities.
But will it put to rest all the critics of his foreign policy? "Maybe for a day," White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said.
by CNB