ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603080067
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: F3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICKEY EDWARDS
REPUBLICAN presidential prospects may not look very good at the moment, but whoever wins the nomination will have a very big ace in the hole: Bill Clinton is not a very good president.
The latest evidence of Clinton's ineptitude came when Fidel Castro assumed that he could get away with shooting down two civilian planes. That act of coldblooded murder was not Clinton's fault, but it is clear that the president did not learn a thing from his predecessor's muddled handling of another military dictator, Saddam Hussein. Convince a hoodlum that you're desperate to be his friend, and he'll mug your neighbor and thumb his nose at you.
It's a sure bet the Chinese will be watching to see how strongly - and for how long - we react. For, months before the Cubans fired on those civilian planes, the administration had signaled a desire to improve relations with Cuba's communist strongman. American liberals, led by Rep. Joseph Moakley, D-Mass., scurried to Havana to bat their eyes at Castro; then he came to the United Nations, posed with fawning left-wingers and returned to his island dictatorship confident of our love for him.
Castro's stranglehold on the Cuban economy has outlasted Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and now Clinton. Even without term limits, Congress has turned over and over and over while Castro remained. Fulbright, Church, Percy, Pell, Lugar, Helms - all have served as chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; McCormack, Albert, O'Neill, Wright, Foley - all have come and gone as speakers of the House. In a democracy, leaders change. Castro remains.
The United States is home to tens of thousands of Cubans who fled the Castro dictatorship. But they can flee no more. We've pulled in the welcome mat. Cubans who set out by raft across the Caribbean are turned around and sent back home.
What is particularly disturbing about this whole affair is that what happened in the Caribbean could happen again in the Taiwan Strait. Clinton has been cozying up to the communist dictators in Beijing since he came to office (continuing a courtship begun by Bush). So China has treated the United States with contempt.
When the United States allowed Lee Teng-hui to visit for a college reunion, China cursed and rattled its sabers. But Lee, in addition to being a graduate of a U.S. university, is also the duly elected president of the Republic of China on Taiwan (being ``duly elected'' is not a claim anybody in Beijing can make). We, of course, did not tell China to stuff it; we hastened to issue reassurances of our undying love and friendship. As a result, China has taken to flexing its naval muscles off Taiwan's coast and warning the United States not to interfere.
Clinton's foreign-policy confusions are only part of the picture. Despite the silly nature of their presidential campaigns, Bob Dole, Steve Forbes, Pat Buchanan, Lamar Alexander, Dick Lugar and the rest are not silly people. They believe the Republican nomination is worth having. They form this conclusion by looking at the Clinton performance and assuming that the American people will want something better.
Not only have Clinton's major domestic initiatives gone nowhere, but the worst one, his proposed remake of the health-care system, revealed his bias toward big government even while his rhetoric moved - and continues to move - rightward. He has shown a remarkable insensitivity to ethical niceties as well, the latest example being his cavalier disregard of Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary's taxpayer-paid junkets and enemies lists (also compiled at taxpayer expense).
And while it's possible that neither Clinton nor the first lady did anything illegal in connection with Whitewater, Travelgate, the removal of files from Vince Foster's office or any of the other scandals du jour that have plagued the administration, it is clear the Clintons consider themselves somehow above the rules lesser folk must follow, especially when it comes to answering questions and producing documents.
None of this is to suggest that Bill Clinton won't be the next president of the United States. He's a lucky fellow, and nothing better illustrates his persistent good luck than the sight of poor Bob Dole having to fend off the frantic ravings of Pat Buchanan and the bottomless bank account of Steve Forbes.
Bill Clinton wears good fortune like a crown. But he's not a very good president, and in the end, luck may not be enough.
Mickey Edwards, a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma, teaches at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Los Angeles Times
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: RICHARD MILLHOLLAND/L.A. Times KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENTby CNB