European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 15, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Poge 12 the stars and stripes tuesday August 15, 1978 John Roche Harding and Carter some striking parallel there Are singular parallels be tween the presidencies of Warren g. Har Ding and Jimmy Carter. Each was elected president against a background of High voltage  was seen As tranquil Izer after the incredible tensions of Wilson s War and red scare Carter As a Friendly of boy who would exorcise the spectres of indo China. Watergate and the Imperial  indeed each won by advocating the american version of the withering away of the state. Each substituted the pie ties of our civil religion for conceptual  Wilson took his ideals straight. Wien the Senate refused to accept his pre Cise version of the Versailles treaty his or Ders were to vote against any Compromise. Such was his moral clout even from sickbed that reluctant Senate democrats killed the treaty with its essentially  he put the elderly sick socialist Leader Eugene v. Debs in jail for opposing the War and would not hear of , in contrast while personally honest could t Tell a principle from a fire. He never went to the mat with his old a on the Hill and after inviting j from Atlanta prison to a White House Ting wondered aloud Why Wilson locked up the harmless old coot. While in arable. His Pardon of Debs was based i Harding s belief that ideas were Orrele at to politics whereas Wilson took the 1 fighter  or the circumstances the Harding lion was a wholly disorganized the president animated by no Strong of convictions except belief in nor turned the kiddies Loose to play. By of state Charles Evans Hughes i Brilliant aloof figure made foreign poll Secretary of Treasury Andrew Mellona tight clean ship and determined rican financial policy. Elsewhere by in the departments of Justice and a the thieves did their own thing. All the president asked was loyalty i. When the White House Bootlegger was a � pretend cd. Harding pardoned him even to before he was tried. On another occasion a r at the White House walked in on the finding him. With his hands i the Throat of the grafting director the Veteran s Bureau. Col. C Arles r. S. Yelling you yellow rat you Dou sing  note the personals. It was not that Forbes had i the Public he had "double-crossed"6 Man who trusted him. President Carter has not issued a Blan Pardon to or. Peter Bourne for  the latter May have committed of plod it is a felony to fake a prescription on of controlled drug but there Are Odd resemblances to the earlier Era. Leaving aside the vast difference in personal life styles Carter runs Square while Harding was a dedicated Rake there is the same absence of an ideological thrust. When i hear the president comment on the vary ing views of his top foreign policy spokes men Vance. Brzezinski. Young. Brown i am reminded of a leading Boston politician in 1962. The old political order was in chaos ased Mccormack Nephew of the speaker and Leader of one democratic  Ted Kennedy the president s brother for the democratic Senate Nomi nation. Called on to take sides this influential pol announced some of my friends Are with de and some Are with Ted Andi m always with my  president Carter similarly is with his  there is an extremely Low level of conceptual wattage in the White House Midge Costanza got tucked in the base ment Broom closet not for her opinions but for shooting off her Mouth. Since in principled policy terms there is nothing much to do around the who e House except in the National Security Council where mean old zbig takes a dim View of children s games Why not relive Woodstock the Harding insiders lived it up in the terms of the postwar new morality neatly etched in John Dos passes three sol  in full revolt against victorian America they booked whore and Gam bled in a nearby House acquired for privacy now the relics of the new politics puff their joints and sniff their Coke listen to old Baez records and try to get it All to gether.""all1 in this usage of course has Noth ing to do with Public policy it involves ego edification. As i suggested before we Learned the extent to which policy advocates have been replaced by hip i the White House is now a rde Garten. While the political narcotics his aides play real stuff. One question when the 1 were yanked from Whit House were they replaced with guitars  "