ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 12, 1997 TAG: 9702120117
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-13 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: CAL THOMAS
SOURCE: CAL THOMAS
REPUBLICANS have a self-image problem, and Democrats are doing their best to exploit it.
Last week, Bob Dole, the Democrats' ideal Republican because he is a cheerful loser, praised President Clinton. Interviewed on the ``Today'' show, Dole said, ``I respect him as a person [and] as a president.'' But he was critical of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, saying that he is bothered by Gingrich's ethical problems. ``I think Newt's going to have to have some rehab,'' said Dole, who is remembered for defending Richard Nixon during the darkest days of Watergate.
Then Gingrich got in hot water with William Bennett for cozying up to the Rev. Jesse Jackson and inviting him to sit in the speaker's box during the State of the Union address. Bennett was further enraged when Gingrich apologized to Jackson for remarks attributed to Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., whom Gingrich selected to deliver the GOP response to the president's speech. Watts had called certain civil rights leaders ``race-hustling poverty pimps.'' Watts said he was speaking in generalities, but at least one press report said he had Jackson and Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry in mind.
Watts and Gingrich should have said they'll apologize to Jackson the day liberal blacks apologize to Justice Clarence Thomas for calling him far worse and continuing to demonstrate against his attempts to exercise his right to free speech.
While Gingrich should reach out to blacks, Bennett is right when he warns the speaker to be careful which blacks he chooses. Jackson regularly trashes Republicans, including Gingrich. It is also a fact that the history of reconciliation attempts between parties and philosophies which are, at bottom, irreconcilable has been that the conservatives usually get their ideological pockets picked.
President Clinton, a master at bridge-building rhetoric, got into the act at last Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast. After a dynamic talk by Dr. Ben Carson, a black pediatric neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital (a talk that was the ultimate argument against affirmative action and the entire welfare state), the president said that when he took office he was stunned at how ``mean'' the Republicans were to him and how even he had been infected with the ``payback'' spirit. He and Mrs. Clinton (she echoed similar themes the night before at a meeting with religious leaders and at a luncheon following the breakfast) spoke of the need for mutual forgiveness and called for prayers that even the press would be redeemed from its ``cynicism.''
This is like having someone who has just punched you in the nose converting to nonviolence before you can defend yourself. President Clinton calls for campaign reform after one of the most tainted fund-raising campaigns in history. Democrats demand an apology for the remarks of J.C. Watts, but forget the inflammatory language they used against former Rep. Gary Franks, R-Conn., whom the congressional Black Caucus regularly vilified.
When the Democrats hold power, they play rhetorical and legislative hardball. When they feel power slipping away, they talk about reconciliation, friendship and redemption.
Gingrich put Jackson in the balcony, but if the roles were reversed, would Jackson invite Gingrich, Justice Thomas or Watts to sit in the balcony? Can anyone remember a time when liberal leaders ``reached out'' to conservatives and modified their agendas in order to promote civility, understanding and cooperation? Does all this warm talk mean this president will compromise his ``principles'' when it comes to, say, partial-birth abortion, women in the military or real spending reductions? Of course not. As in Israel's negotiations with Palestinians, Republicans are declared civil only when they give up something important to them.
This talk about forgiveness and reconciliation is touchy-feely gobbledygook. It isn't mean-spirited to stand up for your beliefs. It isn't cynical for the press to do its job and hold the president accountable for the gap between what he says and does. Debate, accountability and dissent are American traditions.
After the prayer breakfast, I asked former Rep. G.V. ``Sonny'' Montgomery, D-Miss.: ``Do you think the president meant what he said?'' The 15-term House veteran replied, ``At the moment he said it, he did.'' That's not cynicism. That's experience.
- Los Angeles Times Syndicate
LENGTH: Medium: 80 linesby CNB