European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 18, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday May 18, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary William f. Buckley  Perot will have Short lived Parade a Weihe  vat egg Unow wore a Wpm we so Ross Perot has picked up the majority of californians in a Straw poll. Does this suggest that he is the most popular of the three presidential candidates i think not. It suggests consolidating dissatisfaction with two of the candidates. It has become a truism that Perot a name has become a substitute for a none of the  what especially amuses is that Perot is right now appealing simultaneously to conservatives Ana to liberals. For the former he is the kind of Man who understands the Bottom line that we must not continue to spend More than we generate that the culture of husbandry has got to get into the political world. The liberals like his rather undifferentiated concern for victims for victims in the Vietnam War for those there who were missing in action for the hostages in Iran. And they like also the Short temper he has displayed for political convention his insistence that the Job of the legislature is to get things done rather than to dribble its Way through the balance of the Century. But the fourth Law of thermodynamics stipulates that conservatives and liberals cannot love the same object for very Long. As things now stand people wonder whether in the Advent of a genuine candidacy Perot would Hurt Bill Clinton More or George Bush. The Bush people Are More optimistic on this Point than the Clinton people. They reason that so called Reagan democrats Are currently adrift and that their homing instincts will be interrupted by Perot. Here they were ready to give up on the Post Reagan Republican party and return to the party of their ancestors when in route Home they notice this hospitable caravan sary Perot a Retreat and decide to Check in there. The Bush people worry primarily about one state. How can Bush Hope to prevail Over Perot in Texas Given that Perot is so distinctively texan while Bush is thought of As a substantial transient but a transient nonetheless who stopped in at Texas for 35 years in route from Connecticut to Maine our guess is that the Issue will never truly arise the reason for it being that there is too great a similarity Between Perot and the Peter Sellers role in the movie being there. It had a very Short plot a stranger materializes on the scene who is pre advertised As a great Oracle. He is accepted As that and everything he says is transmitted As though it had been vouchsafed to the world at mount Sinai. So that when he says such things As a when something drops you know it simply has to fail a people kill themselves running to the Telegraph offices to circulate the news. Perot will say that a company has to decide to make one product that will be the Best product in the world then make it Damn it and succeed a that a the Only Way to go and people stare at him As they would stare at the Oracle of Delphi grateful for the liberating intelligence. It Isnit that Perot Isnit competent but that there is some Point in the political process. Anybody who struggles under democratic procedures is going to have fits of exasperation in which we dream of one term a just one term a with Caesar. Perot has the Caes Arist Appeal. He considers very decisive moves such As suspending the right of Congress to pass Money Bills. Why did no to we think of that there is a lot of the baby kissing aspect of political democracy that is abominable indefensible extravagant humiliating and stupid. And its probably a very Good idea for candidates to submit to that kind of thing. Even Charles de Gaulle every now and again Felt the need like Antaeus touching Earth and being revived to get out of his limousine and feed himself to an orgy of hand clasping with the frenchmen whom he despised As individuals and loved As a race. That is Why nobody in the United states who docs not submit to such ordeals As new Hampshire Ever makes it. If anyone might have in the past it was Gen. Douglas Macarthur. But his Parade turned out to be Short lived. And when new Hampshire unexpectedly voted for Henry Cabot Lodge in absent a it was simply telling us that it did not wish to take sides in the contest Between Nelson Rockefeller and Barry Goldwater. Perot got himself on the ballot in Maine As an Independent and with his backing financial and popular he will creep into the ballot of other states. But the notion that he stands any Chance at All to become president is quite simply out of this world. Not out of Hollywood but there is a difference Between the two. C Universal press Syndicate Leslie h. Gel germans fret about . A and themselves Bill Clinton will not be Happy to hear what German political and business leaders say about him. Nor will president Bush be thrilled about the comments on himself either. German thinking on these two men is almost a non sequitur we still very much need . Leadership presence and strength. We re worried about America sinking economically and turning inward. We done to think Bush will do anything to turn this situation around. But we re against Clinton. Yes germans prefer the familiar Devil. They Are also profoundly grateful for Bush a support on reunification. But Clinton comes to the germans with two big strikes against him. First they fear he will bring the Carter foreign policy team Back to Washington. Jimmy Carters International record May look better in retrospect to americans but most european and asian leaders still see his tenure As the dark Ages of american naivete. Second they see democrats As protectionists. To germans mistakenly Clinton equals rep. Richard Gephardt the Symbol of democratic get Tough Trade policies. The Only thing even Well informed germans know a and like a about the Arkansas governors world View is his Aid program for the former soviet Union. As for Ross Perot they regard him As a King Kong cartoon a peculiarly american figure who inspires terror or amusement. As much As germans fret about America they worry far More about themselves. Germany has rarely managed internal turmoil As Well As its Western neighbors and it is going through a particularly difficult Patch at the moment with labor unrest. For centuries the romans fought to keep the German barbarians at Bay. Now the a a barbarians Are struggling to fend off latter Day a a romans from Eastern and Southern Europe who they feel will plunder their Homeland. Political leaders ineffectually try to navigate Between the Public a sense of guilt and anger about these foreigners. Meanwhile the situation ripens for right wingers who simply want to throw the aliens out. As explosive and far More complicated is the absorption of 17 million Eastern germans. Bonn has undertaken the largest Wel fare program in history. The commitment is to bring the Eastern germans to economic parity in a decade. Its american equivalent would be lifting the Bottom 20 percent of society to Middle class status y 2000. The Enterprise will be heartening and ugly. Karola von Braun a Berlin political Leader and Niece of the rocket scientist tells this Story of exploitation. Businesses Are firing Blue Collar West berliners and hiring East berliners at about half the salary. New jobs at lower wages Are also going eastward. No one feels Good about this neither easterners working for less than their counterparts nor westerners losing jobs. The culture clash makes economic matters worse. United Germany remains two Germany. For 40 years the West went democratic. Meantime tens of thousands of East Germany a political elite continued nazi like ways As communists. Even now they occupy the choicest apartments in East Berlin and Eastern Germany and hang like a dark Cloud Over their countrymen. These Nastiest Are justly hounded by former dissidents idealists who also Harangue Western germans with unwanted cries of Justice and Equality. And the Western germans Are paying the huge equalization Bill a by borrowing and going very deeply and dangerously into debt. Chancellor Helmut Kohl has Only recently begun to acknowledge that he underestimated the costs. German pout ians flee from facing their voters with hard choices with the same Deer like agility found now in almost every Western democracy. A we have no Federal or state elections for is months so there is a slight possibility of doing something in this time a explained Otto Lamsdorff the Brash and formidable Leader of the free democratic party. A but then we have 19 elections in one year and nothing will be  a melancholy observation about elections and democracy. Leaders fear voters greed and ignorance and voters Are losing Confidence in their leaders ability to govern. This is the real danger in Germany and elsewhere. Thus democracy doth make cowards of us All. C the now York times the opinions expressed in the column end Cert one on this pegs represent those olt the authors end Ere in no Way to be considered is representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government