European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 30, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns Tom Wicker the stars and stripes monday november 30,1987 merits of Nixon s presidency still debated a three Day conference on the presidency of Richard Nixon was drawing to a close at Hofstra University when Roger Wilkins of the Institute for policy studies spoke up during a panel discussion on the Nixon record in civil rights. Wilkins once an assistant attorney general under Lyndon Johnson had just arrived Al the conference i hear Here s been a lot of rehabilitation and revisionism going on he said. Well i want you to know i m nol Here to rehabilitate Richard Nixon he certainly did t. Rather he declared thai presi Dent Niton s civil rights policies had damaged the nation by turning us away from the paths of cultural decency and that his administration had been a Way station in route to the grotesque racial policies of the Keagan administration. There was nevertheless plenty of  and revisionism at the Nixon conference the sixth of Hofstra s valuable series of inquiries by scholars and participants into the administrations of the presidents who have served since the University s founding in 1935. Nol All the rehabilitation came from the numer Ous former Nixon administration officials including Chr most famous Henry Kissinger , hair Man and John Ehrlichman who participated on the other hand Roger Wilkins was by no Means the Only speaker whose views had been Little softened by Lime. His opinions were offset to some extent by Sally Annc Payton of inc University of Michigan school of James j. Kilpatrick Law who served on the Nixon while House staff. Recalling that Nixon came to office in 1969 on a tidal wave of White backlash she pictured his administration As having done As Good a Job in civil rights As was politically possible she argued too that the family assistance plan inc far reaching Nixon welfare Reform would have blown apart the political Structure of the Southern states and hugely benefited poor Southern Blacks had nol inc plan in  in Congre by a strange ludic Liuigi of conservatives and liberals. Elliot Richardson who resigned As attorney general rather than fire Archibald Cox the special prosecutor in the watergate affair set the duality of tone at the conference s opening session. He described Nixon As a Man of remarkable intelligence and Arcal Power of inc intellect As Well As quickness of mind who had it within his grasp to be our greatest Post world War ii  out Richardson also characterized the president As a realist whose realism tills toward cynicism and whose Many Good qualities could give Way very quickly to manipulation and  similarly Stephen e. Ambrose of the University of new Orleans a biographer of Nikon and Dwight Eisenhower offered a series of comparisons most of which favored president Eisenhower. But he conceded that As a strategist Nixon thought on the larger scale particularly in the opening to China and detente with the russians. So it went at session after session the economists Ann Mari May of the University of Nebraska and Robert r. Keller of Colorado stale argued for in stance hat he Niton  had manipulated inc Economy to favor his re election. Herbert Stein then the chairman of the Council of economic advisers replied forcefully that with unemployment at 6 percent and wage and Price controls in effect an expansionary policy had been economically necessary in 1972. Two themes dominated a conference remarkable for the generally civil manner in which once bitter ene Mies met to discuss old controversies and for its demonstration of the Broad scale on which scholarship about the important Nixon years obviously i going Forward. One dominant theme concerned Ninon As an Origi Nal thinker and hard headed craftsman in seeking a foreign policy based on interests rather than ideals. His Success was considerable but Kenneth Thompson or the Miller Center of Public affairs Al the University of Virginia argued that Nixon had nol finally generated Public Confidence in a secretive foreign policy thai sometimes seemed without moral Content and proceeded Loo often in a Crafty  the other theme most often heard was Pul bluntly by Kissinger Richard Nixon is one of the most com plex human beings that one is Likely to  neither critics nor admirers left the Hofstra conference in any doubt about that c to Vork tin deficit non reduction reveals political cowardice for 30 Days the Mountain Laboured. Then it brought Forth a mouse. The Defi Cit reduction plan on which the conferees a i last agreed scarcely can be termed a plan at All. It is All flab and no muscle. One despairs. You have to wonder what in inc world it will take to Jar the Congress and the while House into action. The oct. 19 collapse of the Stock mar Ket should have been enough to Rouse the most somnolent leaders. The president opened one Eye and went Back to his Pillow. The House and Senate rolled Over lightly and yawned. At last the con forces limped before the to cameras to announce their achievement. Then exhausted by their labors they All went off for a week s vacation this wont do the recurring fed. Era deficits May not have been the Prin Cipal cause of the Market s meltdown but our fiscal irresponsibility certainly was one of the major causes. What is to be said of a government so impotent so indecisive so lacking in leadership that it turns inc most important decisions Over to a clerk with a tally stick that is what sequestration amounts to under the Gramm Rudman Hollings act. We should properly say of such a government that it is impotent indecisive and lacking in leadership and that is the kind of government we have right now. Look Al this pitiful product the plan would put together a Combina Tion of reduced spending and enhanced revenues that might reduce the deficit by $30.2 billion in the coming fiscal year. How is this marvelous result to be achieve the planners do nol say. We Are Given ends not Means. On he spending Side i in idea is 10 Cut a billion Here and a billion there hut some of Icse cuts arc More like the Nicks Ihrl go with an inattentive shave. Maybe i ill million can be saved in bet Ter Foll i imm of defaulted stud Cut Loans. Perhaps to billion can be saved in lower in Ieti is costs. One Lime reductions might be huh iced by refinancing Loans of Rural electric cooperatives. Maybe $900 million can be saved in farm subsidy payments. And then again maybe not. On the Revenue Side maybe the trea sury could pick up si.6 billion in More vigorous collection of income taxes. Maybe the Congress will impose the user fees the president repeatedly has asked for. Maybe members will even Vole to charge yachtsmen for the services they now get free from the coast guard. That is a terrible Prospect but it s possible. On second thought it s probably not possible. What accounts for this miserable performance politics pure politics. Add to political considerations a Host of other factors greed hypocrisy stubbornness fear of reprisals and a sincere but Paro Chial concern for local interests above National interests. The Reagan presidency is running Down like an eight Day clock on saturday night. After absorbing one Licking after another on clean water on Highway appropriations on Federal judgeship the bruised president no longer has the Energy to tackle the Hill s big spenders. He is one weary linebacker. On the Hill statesmanship is a thing of the Distant past. Individually Mem Bers of the House and Senate arc Fine people. Collectively icy arc gutless wonders. They Lack the will to make the spending cuts that ought to be made and they Haven t the nerve o raise the reve Nues that would significantly Advance the goal of a balanced budget. For most of these Birds All that counts is their own re election. Generally speaking the people get the kind of government they deserve. That is an awful the i no to say about inc american people bum s t Rue. If there were any real demand out in the Boondocks for responsible fiscal poli cies we would have responsible fiscal policies. This correspondent finds no substantial evidence that any such de Mand exists. As an abstract proposition a balanced budget gleams like a Marble statue. Cast in terms of Concrete proposals the image Falls apart. Raise the tax on gasoline raise inc tax on cigarettes and alcohol tax inc social Security Benefit of wealthy retirees postpone a Cost of Liv ing adjustment reduce payments under medicare squeeze waste out of the Mili tary budget one Man waste in another s vital contract. The natives Are restless and inc old folks Are writing hateful letters. The 130 billion plan we Are sadly in formed is the Best that could be   Given effective bipartisan leadership the people would respond to a National Appeal. Without such leadership we will go on being our potty Little selves. The deficit will go Down but it won t go Down very much