European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 11, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Saturday april 11, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary David s. Drop Arclinton keeps racking up delegates doubters the closer Bill Clinton gets to the democratic presidential nomination the More nervous a if not despairing a Many of his fellow partisans become. To hear them talk they re not sure whether their convention will serve As prelude to an election or a political execution. Its not uncommon to be sure for doubts to be expressed about any firs time presidential candidate. The los Angeles democratic National convention in 1960 had its share of sceptics questioning whether John f. Kennedy could measure up to the a a stature of eight year vice president Richard m. Nixon. History says there were similar reservations about gov. Franklin d. Roosevelt a ability to take on a National figure like president Hoover. What a unusual about this year is that the More Clinton wins the larger the question Marks loom Over his candidacy to a usually the other Way around Victory stifles the sceptics. Clinton seems to accumulate As Many doubters As delegates. Tuesdays new York primary was supposed to be the a Point of closure for the democratic nomination a the rally ing around time. Instead three quarters of the states eligible democratic voters boycotted the polls rather than make a Choice among Clinton Jerry Brown and the ghostly a a suspended candidacy of Paul Tsongas. Among those who voted Clinton won 40 percent a or 10 percent of the total democratic electorate. Two out of three of those who voted a and presumably even More of those who stayed Home a said they wanted another Choice. The two week Campaign added two new chapters to the Catalon of Clinton character questions one on his Youthful experience with marijuana and the other on his avoidance of the Vietnam War draft. Neither was crippling a or even terribly important a in itself. But both showed Clinton a tendency to evade straightforward answers. Some democrats praised Clinton a ability to take All these shots and keep moving Forward toward nomination. But new York exit polls showed Only half those who voted answered yes when asked if Clinton a has the honesty and integrity to serve effectively As and those were democratic activists a not the Broad electorate. Among the one fifth of the primary voters who rated personal honesty As particularly important to their Choice Clinton won Only. 8 percent of the vote. No wonder so Many democratic politicians Are saying privately that Clinton is carrying a heavier Burden of doubt than any prospective nominee can afford even against a candidate with vulnerabilities As visible As George Bush a. And no wonder so Many republicans Are publicly rubbing their hands in glee at the Prospect of Bush getting to run for re election against Clinton. Robert Teeter chairman of president Bush a re election Campaign commented the other Day that when it comes to choosing a president a character dominates in voters minds. They re smarter than the rest of us. They done to take a checklist of 12 issues and Grade the candidates. They decide which of two candidates they want to go sit in the Oval office for four years and make value judgments for Teeter did not come right out and say republicans would love to run on the a character but last week sen. Don Nickles of Oklahoma Bush a Choice to head the Republican platform committee told reporters a i think the Slick Willie thing will come Back and bite him Clinton a when republicans Start recycling stories about Quot extramarital affairs pot smoking and the Nickles said that he had personally called Bush a attention to an overlooked passage in Clinton a 1969 letter to col. Eugene Holmes the former commander of the University of Arkansas Roth unit in which Clinton had promised to enlist after receiving his draft induction notice. Toward the end of the letter in which Clinton tried to explain Why he reneged on that commitment the 23-year-old Rhodes scholar wrote a i am writing too in the Hope that my telling this one Story will help you to understand More clearly How so Many Fine people have come to find themselves still Loving their country but loathing the military to which you and other Good men have devoted years lifetimes of the Best service you could Nickles said the Quot loathing the military phrase a will really Hurt him against George Bush. I can see George Bush and Lee Greenwood singing proud to be an american while Clinton is depicted As a somebody who organized demonstrations against the War a working for George Mcgovern with a people who were leading marches and burning some of us would like to think that the serious challenges facing american families in 1992 would dissuade politicians from re fighting the divisive Battles of the 1960s. But the republicans have shown in election after election they know How to exploit value and character questions. A times Mirror poll released april 3 exposed equal numbers of voters to critical comments about Bush and Clinton and concluded that a a Republican Campaign attack on Bill Clinton a personal character would Likely damage Nis election chances to a considerably greater degree than would a democratic attack on George Bush a that is Why so Many democratic leaders choke up when they try to cheer Clinton a victories. C Tho Washington Post William Safir your smart protest votes Are Apt to backfire one american voter in three thinks that he or she has figured out a Way to beat the primary system pick out a candidate who cannot win the nomination no matter How much you distrust or even detest him and cast a protest vote for that a a anti candidate. That is intended 1 to a Send a message to the most electable candidate of your party to move closer to your position or 2 to abdicate the Choice to party Bosses at the convention allowing the protester to profess Shock at their selection of a Safe establishment Arian. Such system beating is democracy in action the politics of involvement the voice of the people determining the Choice of the people All those Good things. But protest primary voting can be carried too far. Ultra sophisticated protest voters using their ballots to Send messages and to try Cushion shots a a vote for this is a vote for that a May wind up outsmarting themselves. Most republicans who vote for Buchanan As Well As most democrats who vote for Brown Are getting into the message sending habit. For that in a mad As Nell crowd voting has become less of a Choice than a catharsis the casting of a ballot is not so much a rational decision about available alternatives As an explosion of frustration. In an election Industry state like new Hampshire that a traditional a both As a presidential Waker upper and an invitation to the opposition Ball. But when Connecticut a democrats turned the Nutmeg state into the nutcase state and other primary voters threaten to perpetuate the mess Geering its time for even a card carrying iconoclast to examine the Downside of protest voting. It can get to be a self defeating habit. Republicans unhappy with the imperfect Bush started it by using the anti everything Buchanan. Then democrats Uncertain of Clinton and Tsongas picked up the protest Vogue by using the retreaded Brown. Now independents Are getting in the anti establishment game by flirting with the billionaire h. Ross Perot. Protest voting in primaries is building a protest constituency in the general election. Its in fashion to say a i voted its fun to go into a voting Booth and let off steam. But this undermines american political stability without accomplishing the protest voters Aims. In 1968, Alabama a George Wallace saw a not a dimes Worth of difference Between democrats and republicans and led a third party movement of racists Ana populists to a Send them a this appealed to Many Union workers ordinarily sure democratic voters and withheld enough support from Hubert Humphrey to let Richard Nixon squeak through. The result of the 13 percent vote for Wallace reduced organized labors political clout for a generation surely not the goal of the protesting Union voter. That a happening again. The legion of grumpier whose resentments Are fanned by Buchanan and Brown Are getting into the habit of protest voting. They expect to lose indeed most would be dismayed if their vehicle won. They Are indulging their petulance at not being presented with the perfect candidate. Protest voters Are party to their own manipulation. The opportunist Jerry Brown is Likely to try to take his band of a Inners into the Perot fold in the fall Pat Buchanan will pay lip service to republicanism but is already recalling that Reagan was a party switcher. This is leadership Over the Cliff. Sometimes protest asks too much. At this stage the Wise protester eschews All Cushion shot games and chooses the person on the ballot he or she would like to see be president. Send yourself a message nobody a perfect. The candidate you vote for now is the one you should be prepared to live with for the next four years. C the new Yolk time
