European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 17, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday april 17, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary Anthony Lewis really the president something is missing in George Bush. Art empathy Gene if there were such a thing. An instinctive response to the pain of other human beings. An internal Monitor that tells him when political. Calculation has to Stop yielding to concern for decency two examples make the Point. One is glaring Bush a failure to respond to the Slaughter of the iraqi kurd until his inaction became politically embarrassing the other going on right now is a White House Effort to sabotage negotiations that could produce agreement on new civil rights legislation. The civil rights Issue arises from recent supreme court decisions reversing previous interpretations of the Law and making it harder for women and minorities to prove discrimination in lawsuits. A Bill to Correct those decisions passed Congress last year but was vetoed by Bush. The Senate failed by one vote to override. In vetoing the Bill Bush said it would Lead to quotas lawyers who Deal with civil rights Laws said there was nothing to that charge since companies had operated for years under the earlier supreme court decisions without quotas. But the charge was highly effective politically. It fit Republican tactics of painting the democrats As the party of minorities. In North Carolina an emotional television advertisement about quotas helped sen. Jesse Helms win re election Over a Black Democrat Harvey Gantt. Early this year executives in the business round table an organization of about 200 leading corporations decided to try to negotiate a Compromise on the civil rights Bill. They met a number of times during a period of months with civil rights leaders. The meetings made Progress. Quotas turned out not to be an Issue. The difficult problem still being negotiated was the companies demand for a ceiling on damages that women could collect in suits for gender discrimination. Then last week the White House stepped in to try to break up the talks. John Sununu the presidents chief of staff and c. Boyden Gray his counsel telephoned the executives and demanded in Bush a name that they end the negotiations. Nina Totenberg of National Public radio first reported the Story. The strategy is Plain. Bush and his advisers want an Issue not a Bill. They want the democrats in Congress to pass the legislation again so the president can veto it and republicans can run As protectors of the White working Man. Business support for a Compromise Bill would spoil that strategy. The legislation has to be made to look like a Radical measure. That would be hard if it had the endorsement of the chief executive officers of american Telephone amp Telegraph co. And other major corporations. Politics is part of life in Washington and we should not be shocked to see a president playing it. But the Effort to prevent a civil rights Compromise goes far beyond the Ordinary in cynicism. Race is the most divisive Issue in this country. No responsible president would try to Block moves to ameliorate the tension to do so exceeds even the Crudi ties of campaigning on the invented Issue of Willie Morton. The Case of the kurd hardly needs elaboration. Bush says now that he urged no one to rebel against iraqi president Saddam Hussein. But on Fet. 15 he said a the iraqi people Quot should a take matters in their own hands and Force their dictator out. He repeated that advice on March 1, two Days after the War ended. Then when the kurd rebelled and were crushed Bush did nothing and said nothing. Kurd after All have no votes Here. Only when the world was crying out and he began to Hurt politically did Bush slowly begin to order Relief measures for the refugees. The justification offered was that political stability in the persian Gulf mattered More than the Fate of the kurd. But the arc can be no stability in flagrant disregard of human decency is. Thai is a fundamental truth of International life abroad As at Home doing right can be More helpful to a president than focusing on politics Bush is a highly intelligent Man and he surely should be Able to see that. A Friend should Tell him George you be made it. You re president. Act like it. A c thu now York times Jim Fain brother should stay out of private lives its not so much big brother As. Aunt Hortense who s running things these Days. The government in t yet into thought control though if it keeps meddling in a Giene and deportment it May get there. Right now it s obsessed instead with How much cholesterol we Swallow and How Many tons of saccharin it takes to kill a mouse. As one of millions dutifully chomping High fiber sawdust Hull deep in skim milk i begin each Day in. The deep melancholy the palate transmits to the Central nervous system when its terminally bored. The suspicion intrudes that a few decades of Crisp Bacon and caloric croissants might be a fair Trade for a Century of Low cholesterol oat fodder. How the land of the free became the Domain of the Nanny is something of a mystery. Fetters Are not indigenous to this wide continent. Imagine Davey Crockett drinking Sanka or John Paul Jones ordering a Perrier before dinner. Seat belts strike Erie As the a Litomy of a government As a Nursery. Sure they re a Noble thing that saves lives in Auto accidents. 1 Wear them whenever in a around my 5-year-old, not wanting to risk influencing him. Against them and of course insist that he be belted. But the notion that its the governments duty to arrest me if i choose not to  70-year-old carcass to a vehicles Chassis strikes me As intrusive and absurd. Stupidity is a human right so Long As it does no to injure the innocent. Motorcycle helmet Laws Are even farther fetched. The human projectiles Flung from Bike accidents Are far More dangerous to bystanders if theyse wearing hard hats. Its none of the government s business if a cyclist chooses to soften the Impact on whatever he hits by going bareheaded. He places Only himself at risk. I kicked smoking for Good some years ago and am thankful Tor it. It s a Messy habit confers no real pleasure and is a proven killer. Bui my sympathy is entirely with the smokers who now have to endure total ostracism and Public calumny. Non smokers Are entitled to Protection against passive smoking which research insists kills a surprising number of peo pie. Aside from that smoking is a per. Sonal not a Public Issue. There should be sealed places where those inclined can inhale As much Poison As they Pine for. Pregnancy is a More Complex subject because it involves the lives and health of vulnerable innocents. Every Effort should be made to protect the unborn but vigilantism is not the method of Choice. The waiters who heckled the overdue lady who had broken Down and ordered a Daiquiri roused no cheers from me. Some things Are among people their doctors and god not subject to a plebiscite of Holics than thou. Put abortion and euthanasia on that list along with homosexuality though it s not entitled to steal the word  ,. Its weird when you think ii bout it that conservatives who re supposed to love Freedom they seem to define it exclusively As the right to make Money ands possess handgun should be the greatest bedroom peeping Toms. They noisily espouse everything from urine testing to preserving brain dead bodies with irrigation tubes. A a instead of a bin dipped schoo marm what this country needs is a government determined to keep quirkiness alive even if we have to declare it a his Tor ical Monument. C co now5 surv�?~l9 a the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and arc in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United Stales government