European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 13, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns David Broder the stars and stripes wednesday May 13,1987 Gephardt s oratory demands closer scrutiny rep. Richard a. Gephardt of is. Louis 46, a ten year Veteran of the House of representatives and declared candidate or the democratic presidential nomination lost wednesday stood up to address his colleagues in a closed Caucis of House democrats. The topic was the Trad Bill and specifically the Gephardt Amend ment. It would require Japan Korea another countries to reduce their Trade sur pluses with uie United Stales quickly or face severe restrictions on products Corn ing into this country. From All accounts Gephardt delivered a masterful speech. He moved quickly beyond the technical details of the legislation and talked in Strong passionate language. He emphasized the concern Over Ameri Ca s declining economic position he had found among voters wherever a campaigned. One member supporting an other democratic Pirnal said Gephardt held the caucus members another still Neutral in the Batik said if he elks thai Well on the stump he s going to win this a third Man 1 know who has been Skepi Cal of Gephardt s chances told me Damn right he d make a president it is almost impossible to overestimate the significance of what Gephardt achieved. He was among friends col leagues who already Riad elected him As caucus chairman. But to go before a group of intimates and establish the sense that their old buddy had became presiden Liat was remarkable. On the basis of his work habits his intellectual equipment his ability 10 enlist allies i had written More than a year ago that despite his youth and relative anonymity Gephardt deserved to be taken seriously As a candidate. His recent performance strengthens that conviction and the concomitant obligation for those of us who Are reporters not partisans to exam Ine him seriously and critically. Such a examination raises some disquieting ques Trade Issue is Gephardt s political Trump card. Not since George Mcgovey Rode the anti Vietnam War sentiment to his upset Victory in the 1972 nomination struggle Bis a Longshot democratic presidential aspirant pinned his Hopes so closely to a single Issue. The Gephardt Amend ment is Likely to be approved on the House floor this week despite the opposition of president Reagan and House ways and Means committee chairman Dan Rostenkowski d-i1i. And the editorial criticism of major newspaper. It is the Cement in Gephardt s growing Jim Fain 1 Fly let s get t0 the Root of the problem and make them Stop tue fms out setter pr0puct$rt 0 907 political Alliance with leaders of organized labor who have made Lough Trade legislation their top priority and who Are vital to his chances in the Iowa caucuses. It is the Issue on which he can draw the clearest difference with former sen. Gary Hart who was the Early lear1 in the polls and a Man who called Gephardt s la Iii action audit is a hot Button Issue for millions of voters touching off their growing sense of economic insecurity. All of which made it extraordinary for Gephardt to Tell Edward Walsh of the Washington Post and me what he told us in an interview just before his caucus speech. After a number of questions on the substance of his proposal Walsh asked How does this legislative fight fit in with your presidential Campaign Gephardt said i really Don t know i am doing what i think is the right thing to do on Trade. I Don t know what it docs politically and i m not concerned about that answer to Pul it politely invites scepticism. And it is not he Only thing. In his february announcement speech Gephardt comic Mcd foreign competitors in language As jingoistic As that John con Nafiys used in his ill fated 1980presidential Campaign. Speaking of the koreans he said we can no longer accept a situation in which hey can invade our Market with Hyundai sold cheap because we Are paying dearly for the tanks that defend their the Clear implication is that he would either Stop the invasion outright or make our military Aid conditional on a reduction in their exports to us is that what he meant i asked. Gephardt replied i have no complaint with their ability to freely enter our marketplace and sell 8 million cars a year which is what they will do 111 is year. I think that is the kind of open Market we should have. But the nit is incumbent upon the koreans to open their Market to Gephardt then cited a number of extremely restrictive Trade practices the koreans use and concluded we have thousands of troops in their country helping to protect their Border. I support thai policy. But when you step Back and look at All of those actions and the fact that they can freely come into our country and sell a million tars. In is not a fair situation. To it time for a change in the it is hard to know what to make of a pol Ilicin of Preat ability and great Promise who can look you straight in the Eye and deny that he has Given any consideration to the personal political consequences of u major policy fight he misleading. Or one who can employ such emotional language in a Public speech As Gephardt used on the koreans and then tack so effortlessly when talking to re porters. The credibility Gephardt has earned with his colleagues Over 10 years of hard work is a great asset one which he would be foolish to jeopardize with an easy applause line or disingenuous answer. Post enlers group administration using nazis big lie technique if you Ever need a lawyer flexible enough to argue with equal conviction hat White is Black and vice Vena try for Abraham Sofaer Legal administrator of the state department. The Reagan people hired Sofaer a former Federal judge in new York to Lell them the abm treaty would permit Star wars testing. He Obi aged. That obvious fiction upset sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia the democratic arms guru. Nunn called so Faer s version absurd inadequate he de tailed a devastating rebuttal. In terror of Nunn s reputation Sofaer put his roller skates into reverse. Young lawyers in his office misled him he said in a display of the Buck slops anywhere bul Here accountability worthy of Reagan himself. I was relying on research i thought was Cut to an annoyed White House distinctly sur prised by sorter s about face. What happened next is hidden in executive privilege but Sofaer went Back to the drawing Board. He now is circulating a new Opin Ion that says he was right the first time. Such cynical manipulation of facts is typical of an administration that operates on the principle that Rulh is whatever you can persuade people to believe. Slate of Lac Art Public relations artistry not facts is what matters. It s Joe Goebbels big lie technique All Over again whether Reagan himself is a master manipulator of this newspeak or believes his own propaganda is not Clear. His two foreign policy obsessions Star wan As an nuclear shield and the contras As the moral equivalent of the founding fathers arc so bizarre it s less unsettling to think he is faking us out than that he is himself totally faked out someone is faking and not just the revolving judge Sofaer. There is no More Chance of an effective missile shield in the foreseeable future than there is that the contras will Waltz into Managua tomorrow. The governing Council of the american physical society is the latest of Many expert bodies to say so. Hard Linen in the administration always have known that. They want to Start a new arms race on the theory it will bankrupt the soviets. They no longer give even lip service to Reagan s fantasy of a leak proof shield. Their immediate aim is to put some hardware under contract so As to build up a Broad lobby that will prevent some new administration from cancelling the program. Reagan s Devotion to Star wars is so Complete for whatever reason that he forbade Secretary of state Shultz even to discuss with the soviets what May be permitted under the abm treaty. In a staff meeting in february he asked Why Don t we just go ahead with the Loose interpretation of abm ? Why do we have tomake any announcement that s his concept of democracy. Just do whatever you think is right and Don t Tell anybody. His contempt for government embraces contempt for Law. That How we got into much of the currentness the Iran arms Deal Covert funding of the centres in violation of specific legislation failure to probe what might have been possible in the Way of arms limitations were we willing to abide by abm. The tip Oitis that Reagan can legally cancel the abm treaty on six months notice. He does t want to do hint. Might Wake the Public. Scrapping in with a flexible lawyer s Brief however absurd is neater. Protects the peacemaker image. Co Kawi Vannce
