THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 27, 1994 TAG: 9409270009
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
One common thread in the Oliver North Senate campaign is to attack our incumbent senator, Charles Robb, for supporting our president. I know this because for some reason, North's campaign mail is still coming to my address in spite of the fact that my wife and I have repeatedly responded to it, clearly detailing our support of our president as well.
Sen. Robb should be praised for not keeping his distance from a man whom other congressmen (men of lesser character, in my opinion) consider to be a political land mine. These people are concerned because of the possible political fallout involved with supporting an administration that promotes ideas which stand contrary to the status-quo (which clearly was not working for this country) in spite of the good things that its policies could do for this country. The things that North condemns Sen. Robb for, I applaud him for!
Look at what has been accomplished in just two years: We have a family-leave act; the Brady Bill has finally passed and we have a new crime bill; our economy is the best that it has been in three years; and there are 6 million people working now who weren't working when President Clinton was elected. And these great reforms have passed in spite of the congressional Republicans' underhanded, even petty, attempts to thwart them, such as using their only effective weapon, the filibuster (using this tool, the Republicans in Congress have successfully stalled several more of the president's reform packages when a simple vote would have passed them).
The great advances of the Clinton presidency are not things to distance yourself from, and I feel that Sen. Robb shows a great deal of character for standing behind them. So, if anyone is unhappy with the changes brought about by our president, they can (to paraphrase a bumper sticker prevalent in this area) ``Blame me . . . I voted for Clinton.''
If Sen. Robb continues to stand behind our president, then he'll get my vote for sure.
RICHARD WHISENHUNT
Chesapeake, Sept. 16, 1994 by CNB