THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 5, 1997 TAG: 9701030001
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: PERRY MORGAN
LENGTH: 65 lines
Walter Mondale was vice president in the Carter administration and later served as ambassador to Japan. When asked recently if he agreed with Bill Clinton's frequent descriptions of Al Gore as the greatest vice president in history, Mondale replied: ``Of course. Gore first, Thomas Jefferson second and Mondale third.''
Targets abound for that sort of wit in Washington and, in that regard, Clinton ranks first. Amid mushrooming scandals involving obsessive fund raising for nonstop campaigning during which fat cats for the right price could sup with the president or sleep over in the Lincoln Bedroom, the president has shown an uncanny ability not to blush and, indeed, to legitimate sleaze as White House custom.
Did a fund-raising crony escort a Chinese arms dealer through the White House? Did Gore personally pick up a bundle at a Buddhist temple? Did the aforementioned crony, who had the run of the White House and cushy foreign connections, offer $600,000 in illicit contributions to the Clinton legal defense fund? Did foreign money with no legal access flow into White House coffers through front organizations?
No matter, implies the president: What counts is that, after numerous probes, ``there's not a single solitary shred of evidence of any wrongdoing on my part.'' And so, he says, ``I feel good about it.'' He shouldn't. Even if there's no evidence that he has broken a law, there's no honor in staying just inside it. And especially not when the law regarding campaign finance is a bad joke.
Clinton's proposition is the same as Richard Nixon's. The president is not a crook. Does one applaud? The claim says as little as it is possible to say about a man twice elected to the nation's highest office, though neither time with a majority's consent or trust.
Now, to be sure, politics ain't beanbag. Voters know that both parties stretch, twist and evade the law in ever-hastening pursuit of campaign grub. The Commerce Department traditionally rewards campaign contributors with appointments and grease for getting contracts. ``That's part of what the system has been like for 160 years,'' said Robert Mosbacher, secretary of Commerce for George Bush. Clinton's secretary, Ronald H. Brown, ``raised public favors to Democratic donors to new heights,'' according to a survey by The New York Times.
The question is not which party is more abject when both are on their knees, but who will work and speak for a higher standard. Clinton, to be sure, is on record for reform but not on fire for it. Just as Ronald Reagan was on record for a balanced budget while the national debt gained orbit. Reagan's real interests were elsewhere. So are Clinton's.
So campaign corruption grows as the debt grew. Absent leadership, commitment, standards. Clinton claims to be clean of wrongdoing while knowing two things: (1) Much of what campaign finance law permits is grossly offensive. (2) His incursion into an ocean of Asian money seeking influence sets new precedents for abuse. Even Clinton admits that a Chinese arms merchant makes an odd bedfellow.
Frenzied fund raising enabled Clinton to begin running TV spots almost 18 months before the '96 election. His camp doubtless was ``feeling good'' about that until election-eve reports of the Asian connection put beyond reach a majority vote for him and congressional control for his party. Knowing when enough politics is enough is not a Clinton strong point. His first term foundered on ineptness; the second begins with predictable consequences of what is known as his ``continuing campaign.'' MEMO: Mr. Morgan is a former publisher of The Virginian-Pilot.