European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 16, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday november 16, 1993 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13 William Safire boy scout. I Are you going to keep interrupting of can i finish this column in a classic rendition of or Nice guy1 goes for the jugular vice president Al Gore poked prodded and needled Ross Perot into revealing himself As a Bossy old billionaire bully who blows his Cool when confronted in a fair fight the debate on can which i saw on National Public radio was t even close. Gallup scored audience reaction As Al most 2-to-l for Gore and two members of my own focus group showed Why the old Guy was mean to him said one her Hus band said of Perot he wants everybody to Lis ten to him but he Don t listen to no was this event an elucidation of the Issue of free Trade is. Protectionism of course not the scrap taking place in the Arena of Naftal has Little to do with foreign economic policy. It is the old grudge fight Between the politics of Hope against the politics of fear As the free traders put it or the Cul Tural elite against the pee Pul As the protectionists put it. That s Why the Clinton decision to have his vice president take on Perot was a Media masterstroke. Last year both parties abased themselves polishing the Independent s Apple. This year at Little political risk a buildup of the Perot candidacy would Cut primarily into any Republican challenger s vote the president saw How to dramatize a Dull Issue by anointing one volatile villain As spokesman for Naftal s opposition. Perot stepped eagerly into the trap of Larry King s unstructured debate. His Are you Gonna keep interrupting me technique works Well with journalists but backfires when used against another politician the White House strategy was to provoke Perot into blowing his Cool into getting visibly mean and verbally abusive when cornered. Gore s tool in peeling off the veneer Ffolk siness was an accusation of hypocrisy since Perot personally profited from his land around a free Trade zone near mexi co Why did the billionaire oppose every body else getting the same free Trade break that threw him on the defensive. In truth Perot is not in the Naftal opposition for the Money he can make he s Only in it for the Power he can grab. When Perot launched his customary attack on lobbyists Gore landed the counterpunch related to that conflict of interest i served in the Congress said Gore and i Don t know of anybody who lobbied the Congress More than you did. To get tax Breaks for your you re lying Perot sputtered. You re lying but the fact is that he has lobbied government at All Levels All his business life for contracts and special favors with great Success. Vulnerable to this counterpunch Perot lost control and hurled the word lying twice at the vice presi Dent the cry of the stymied debater. When Perot expressed his usual scorn at government forecasts Gore Low ered the Boom when the War against Iraq was about to take place you told Larry King this is a terrible mistake and it la Lead to the death of 40,000 american troops " same with a wild Perot prediction that 100 Banks would fail after election Day. Irrelevant to Naftal yes but right on target against the politics of negativism and throughout the show Perot left the impression of a Man whining about the interruptions of his interruptions i would like to finish a sentence just once before the program s Over. Let s Haven unnatural event and try not to interrupt me. Are you going to listen work on Gore s red Cape enticed Perot into insulting charges and insolent digs which americans recognize As a symptom of blown Cool. Would you even know the truth if you saw it i Don t believe you would. Give me your whole mind. The effect of this uncontrolled con tempt was heightened by the Matador s studied boy scout respectful Ness. The sincere vice president is not the Best formal debater around. But in this performance Gore proved that a politician armed with courage and civility can beat a bully every time. Perot s insistent message through his exercise in self revealing self destruction was let me let s Hope he has. C t new Forte Timon looks like Perot has Twan ged his last tired tune i be got an idea for a modification to the North american free Trade agreement Well Send Ross Perot to Mexico and in return Well give the mexicans anything they want As the gift of a grateful last week s Naftal debate with vice president Al Gore Perot s career As a pundit without portfolio and without specifics should be Over for Good. During that 90 minutes in a charmless version of his old Cracker barrel act dogs did t Hunt lines in the Sand were drawn and the tooth fairy was mentioned la Only take a minute to kill this if you be Lieve that i got a lot of stuff in the attic i can sell you know. Ross Perot s easier to imitate than Jimmy Durant. Perot had a purpose in amen can politics for a fleeting moment during the last presidential election. He said that the emperor had no clothes that washing ton was a hollow place that ran on incestuous connections among lobbyists journalists and elected and appointed officials. While campaigns Peak was filled with Smoothie rhetoric Perot s was filled with the kind of aphorisms you d expect to find in a Fortune cookie at a Tex mex restaurant. _. But several things happened. One is that the choir Learned the song. There s barely a person in America who does t suspect that Washington Deal making has As much to do with the Public weal As a Black widow spider has to do with Romance. That common understanding Doest mean an end to politics As usual on the same Day that Ross and Al did Yosemite Sam and crusader Rabbit Edward j. Rollins or. Who managed Christie Whitman s Success Ful race for governor of new Jersey boasted to report ers that the Campaign paid Black ministers and Pemo cratic regulars not to rally voters for Jim Florio. On wednesday he retracted the Story leaving Whitman fuming the ministers raging and the rest of us scratch ing our Heads if Rollins who parted bitterly with Perot after briefly managing his on again off again presidential race Ever wonders How the Man could marshal so much support out of american disillusionment he might just look in the Mirror and wave a $10 Bill at his own reflection profs allure evaporated not Only because people got the message but because the messenger s act wore thin. And the act was All there was no action just a Stream of tetchy twang. Ross Perot became the political equivalent of the person who says he could write your column without breaking a sweat. Problem is he a never sat Down at the typewriter. Perot does t have to Deal with con Gress or run the government he Only runs his Mouth. I m in sympathy with those members of Congress who Haven t yet decided How to vote on Naftal. It s Anna Quindlen fraught with ambiguity could Cost jobs in the Short run boost exports in the Long run. But americans hate ambiguity. That s Why so Many of them liked Perot. The president thought he was killing two Birds with one Stone with this debate win friends for Naftal and re veal Perot As a Crank. Perot accustomed to appearing on Larry King live As the Centrepiece was relegated to place setting and indeed it made him Cranky. He tried to replay portions of the presidential race he popped in and out of like a Flea with two dogs. See we could probably even teach Al Gore to do this sort of thing he had his customary share of hyperbole is this really the biggest lobbying Effort in the history of our country he also misjudged his audience talking about the oppressed working people of Mexico if Naftal fails it will be because americans think it will Hurt the oppressed working people of the United states. Usually columnists complain when a debate is Lively that it s not substantive enough or when it s substantive it s Dull. This debate had the distinction of being neither. If As the vice president said Naftal is right up there with the Louisiana Purchase people deserved to hear a whole lot More about both sides than they got on television. But the evening accomplished one thing it ensures that from now on no one need afford Perot a platform from which to air what pass As his opinions. He s been called a demagogue a populist and a gadfly. What he is is Over
