European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 21, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes George will Bush promised Little and has kept his Promise an a enthralled assessment of George Bush s first year As president is this his Campaign showed Little Promise and he has kept his Promise. In foreign policy he is perhaps the perfect president for America the bystander. Domestically not since the 1920s have americans looked less to the National government for leadership or believed less that what it docs matters to their lives. So in Bush the Man and the moment have met. A less mild assessment of Bush s year one is that his administration illustrates in a sense is the echoing emptiness at the Core of contemporary politics. Its intellectual and moral flaccid Ity reflect we do indeed have representative government the sagging of America deeper into a peripheral role abroad and self indulgence at Home. The words of american Liberty Are on the lips of millions struggling to Dis member the soviet cup inc the administration seems worried that they will succeed. East Germany s communists clinging to levers of Power must have been buoyed by the Secretary of stale s december visit. Lithuanian aspirations for Independence arc considered by some in the administration a disagreeable inconvenience to Gorbachev the fall ing Star to which the administration has hitched its Wagon and the nation. Two and a half million panamanians arc bet Ter off because of the Bush administration. A billion chinese arc not. Bush s presidency began rolling downhill during his inaugural address when he said. We have More will than Wallet but will is what we actually by will he meant something less sturdy. He meant having Nice aspirations unconnected with resources. During the inaugural address Bush got Ellen Goodman his Percsi Dancy by Gas turns going by extend ing a hand to a Democrat and praising in Domestic affairs bipartisanship usually is collaboration in something disreputable but mutually convenient. Today s bipartisanship is an Amia ble conspiracy to Cook the books and run up the debt and give people a Dollar of government while charging them 75 cents for it. And get re Clicc cd. Small wonder Congress likes Bush who docs not Rock the boat. But being liked is not a bankable asset. The con Gress that thinks he s a swell Guy administered 19 him the stunning rejection of his nominee John Tower to be Secre tary of defense and even More remark ably refused to pass his lax Cut proposal capital gains. Congress does not fear a Man who ran behind the congressional winners in 379 of 435 districts. The Ideal first term for a preside no gels the pain Over Early and saves the euphoria for election eve. Ronald Rea Gan wrung out inflation by quickly put Ting the Economy through the worst con traction since the depression. By 1984, with the los Angeles olympics turned Inlo a Flag waving festival life seemed like an endless summer. Bush is having his euphoria now inc end of the cold War and All that. But a Harbinger of harder edged politics is sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan s proposal to Cul social Security taxes. This would deprive the govern men of a flood of Revenue inc Ruby soil ing inc bipartisan fun of borrow borrow spend spend re elect re a acct. With a mixture of obtuse Ness and arrogance the White House first said Deri sively that or. Moynihan s got a lot of ideas an accusation never directed at this White House. Then the administration tired of the fear Factor saying. Democrats seem to want to fiddle with the social Security thai is an interesting charge from an administration con Cal to spend the so Cial Security surplus As though there will be no tomorrow. Moynihan s proposal echoes loudly like a gunshot in a Cavern because it elicits evidence of the Emp Linss of an administration with Only one grand Pas Sion a yearning to make a remarkably regressive tax system even More so by culling the capital gains tax. Girding his loins for another round in that fight Bush denounces demagogues who say thai tax would favor the Rich which of course in would. Charges of demagoguery come awkwardly from inc Man who wanted to fiddle with to Coin a phrase the first amendment to Stop the epidemic of one Flag burning. When no necessity no economic or incr National crisis requires Greal Energy from government government naturally slouches along the path of least resistance. That is Why the administration s brightest spot. Jack Kemp s Hud is so admirable ii is bringing Energy to Bear on a project empowering the Urban poor that is optional in the sense Hal it is necessitated Only by conscience. As regards much of the rest of the administration s Handiwork from Beij ing to inc by decl it is Odd to recall Hal candid Alc Bush told an audience he wanted to be preside no because 1 be Lieve in inc Honor of it the Washington Post writer i group Justice system must protect children from itself there was a time and not that Long ago when a child s Eye and a child s View were excluded from the rooms where Justice was decided and verdicts were determined. A child was by common definition incompetent. Even when the crime was committed against his or her own body a prosecutor needed another witness a grown up to prove inc Case. Unless the abuser con fessed or was caught unless the Abusch Commil cd the crime in front of adult win Csecs in arc was rarely a Case and More rarely a conviction. The courts did t listen to children because adults did t listen. Not usually. Even Freud assumed that sexual abuse at least incest was some sort of fantasy on inc pan of the child. Today we re More Likely to pay attention. Today the la books Are cleared of old salutes that required another witness. Today the courts can weigh the pcs ii Mony of a child accuser against an adult defendant. But that has opened new problems that come with Icse cases. If children Aren t automatically untrustworthy neither arc icy infallible witnesses unassailable victims. If children Are legally allowed to testify that does t mean they arc emotionally fit to testify. This week in a California courtroom jurors struggled to sort out 2 i years of Lesli Mony by 124 child win Csecs in inc Mcmartin Case perhaps the most complicated and expensive trial in american his tory. They ended up acquitting the operators of the Mcmartin pc school. Raymond Buckey and his Mother. Peggy Mcmartin Buckey on 52 counts of child molestation. The judge declared a mistrial on the 13 remaining counts. Raymond Buckey up Cal five years in jail awaiting trial. And now in Washington the supreme court has decided to Rule on whether a defendant in a child abuse Case has the right to face his Young accuser. The Issue before the court and the country is classic and confrontational. The sixth amendment to the Constitution says in All criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right. To be confronted Wilh inc Wil Nessus against common sense said that truth would come Oul through Confron Lalion. But common sense now also asks whether thai Rule should Force a 7-year-old to face an alleged abuser and a 3-year-old to be Cross exam ined in court by lawyers. These questions come before the court. How do you protect the rights of a defendant who is innocent until proven guilty How do you prot Cal a child who already May have been brutalized what arc the demands of Justice and what arc the demands of caring and what arc the Best ways of arriving at the truth Over the decade we have Learned that children who go to court can t be should t be Trca cd inc same Way As adults. Advocates have struggled to find ways to protect them from the second trauma of a court room confrontation. Without that Assurance parents won l pursue Justice. Whal is accomplished by placing the defendant within striking distance of inc child cd Cpl inc physical intimidation of the child asks David Finkelhor of the University of new Hampshire s family research lab. Those who agree with him have devised a series of strategies to keep children one step removed and one step protected. Some Stales allow them to testify by closed circuit to or behind a protective screen. Others Stales permit inc admission of hearsay evidence. Most courtrooms and prosecutors offices have been made More child Friendly. Two years ago the supreme court ruled against a courtroom screen that separated two girls from the accused. The Laws that will be reviewed by the court this time arc one in Maryland that allowed children to testify by closed circuit to and one in Idaho that allowed a paediatrician to to Slimy to what a 3-Ycar-old told him. In both cases the Issue is who Lucr the accused arc being denied the right to confront their accusers. But is the clearer course to Justice through the confrontation required by a literal interpretation of the sixth Amend ment or through the strategies that also protect Chil Dren and ensure their testimony Howard Davidson of the american ear association s child advocacy Center welcomes the supreme court s continuing search for balance the purpose of our Justice system is not to keep Oul people who have something to say. The interest is having it All come out and idling the juries weigh Only 5 percent of the children in prosecuted abuse cases Ever have to testify. The vast majority of these cases Are handled without going to trial. Indeed the most important reforms rarely make headlines. These involve the gradual informal sensitizing of courtrooms and the judges. But sometimes a child is so frightened that Only Protection will allow him or her to testify. In these cases the closed circuit to and the screen May be necessary safeguards for Justice. If the defendant s Law yer is present to probe the testimony to raise the other Point of View then the meaning of the sixth Amend ment would be intact. These Are Are not simple distinctions to be made. That s Why they come to the highest court. But we have finally Learned to listen to children. Now we have to make sure they feel free to speak. Kwh gum Post Nuri group
