European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 17, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday. January 17,1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 Clinton s 1 St year a mix of High highs Low lows sizing up president Clinton s first year in of fice is no simple task. If forced to give him a Grade i would say about a for he has been neither outstand ing nor disastrous measured against his postwar predecessors. But that oversimplifies and distorts a record that contains striking High and Low Points. Breaking the Story Down into its essential elements helps get the picture in focus. Organizing his work. Even at the end of this first year Clinton s allies and associates worry about the Lack of discipline and Structure in the administration. The worst examples Are in the appointment pro Cess. It is unconscionable for a democratic president to let a full year of his term elapse without filling the position of assistant. Attorney general for civil rights if a Republican digit his critics would be unmerciful. But after the Lani Guinier fiasco Clinton went into a Shell and no one has been Able to pry an appointment out of him. The democrats 12-year absence from Power made recruit ing difficult a problem particularly visible in his weak foreign policy and National Security lieutenants. But Clinton found Many Able people in the states for Domestic Cabine positions. The problem is that All the major decisions Are made in the White House and it is barely organized atall. The foolish Campaign pledge to Cut the staff by 25 percent hampers its work. Clinton s use of his own time remains haphazard. Chief of staff Thomas f. Mack Mclarty s political and administrative skills Are so limited that he has found it necessary to bring in an in creasing number of deputies to try to coordinate issues. The first lady free lances sometimes brilliantly but often at others expense. The complaint among the working staff and outsiders is the same too Many meetings too few decisions. The result is a risky Pat Tern of slow reactions and desperate catch up efforts. The Domestic Agenda. Thanks in part to the High Quality of his economic appointees Bentsen pan Etta Rubin Altman Tyson it Al and in part to the republicans Alan Greenspan for the accommodating Federal Reserve Bob Dole for killing off the gratuitous stimulus package and even George Bush for stick ing with the Raissez Faire policies that Cost him Politi Cally but allowed the necessary restructuring of corporate payrolls to go Forward Linton has managed very Well on the economic front. Add in the victories on Trade policy with Naftal and the Gatt agreement and a genuine if minimal deficit restraint plan and he has much to be proud of. In social policy his greatest achievement the expansion of the earned income tax credit to raise Mil Lions of the working poor above the poverty line has gone almost unremarked. Family leave legislation i working Well so far. The other major initiatives Are still 16ub51masweu buoy itvwhiasi5 to be judged the National service program is just begin Ning education Reform has yet to pass welfare Reform yet to be introduced. The health Reform proposal is a huge Gamble substantively and politically and rep resents probably the supreme test for Clinton this Sec Ond year. He has lost ground in Congress since it was introduced but he is still in the game foreign policy. The Adverse judgment i d make is shared by people far More knowledgeable. In the current Issue of foreign affairs for example Paul d. Wolfowitz Dean of Johns Hopkins University s school of advanced International studies says with the important exception of Naftal the administration has thus far failed to articulate an understanding of the National interest sufficiently compelling to engage major efforts by the country As a whole or by the president personally in International the Back and Farthing on Bosnia Somalia Haiti and North Korea carries a Cost to our world leadership and risks danger Ous miscalculation by potential adversaries. Moral leadership. Except for his Superb speech in Memphis evoking the memory of Martin Luther King jr., the president has been reluctant to use the moral authority of his office. His timid budget proposal and his ambitious health care plan Are alike in their avoidance of significant direct visible sacrifices by the Middle class majority. Clinton has a Clear sense of the challenges the nation faces but he seems unwilling to Trust the american people to take a similar Jong term View. In the meantime the questions about his strength of character and his Candor that emerged in the Campaign have been deepened by both the personal and official controversies of the first year. At the Root of Many of them is his habit of rewriting history including his own words and actions to suit his current needs that is not a formula for building Trust or Confidence for the inevitable hard times. If the improving Economy is Clinton s most solid achievement the recurring credibility questions rep resent his Achilles Heel. C Tho Washington Post even if attack was senseless figure skating in t supposed Tobe a Contact sport. It s a hybrid of athletics and show Biz grit and glitter gymnastics and Ballet. The stars Are required to perform double axes with a smile and the mystique shimmers like a Sheet of ice. Fans of skating Don t watch with the i five exhilaration of a basketball crowd or the combativeness of teeming football stands. We watch anxiously quietly like a Parent at a child s piano recital who worries that Shell hit the wrong note. In this icy Arena where one slip makes All the difference the toughest Competition has always been Between a skater and herself. It s been Between the need to stay on the cutting Edge and the need to retain a Center of composure. But violence hit this world of ice sequins and elegance with the shocking Impact of a Metal bar against Nancy Kerrigan s leg. When she was hit it was As if someone had taken deliberate aim at the Eye of an artist or the hand of a violinist. When she fell to the ground crying Why me Why Why Why the question echoed across the country. I can t understand she said. Idon t know if anybody can in some gruesome Way the first image of a hit and run assault by a stranger fit the scenario of violence that has be come our most recurring Nightmare. Monica Seles the Tennis player who was stabbed last summer talked about the assault As another reason to focus society. On something we can All do to Stop senseless Vio Lence against in Nocent Frank car Roll a skating coach who May have seen the at Tacker labelled him As some crazed it seemed part of a world in cell com which Fame has Goodman become one per son s goal and an other person s target. A world of drive by shootings commuter train massacres and kidnappers who take girls from their bedrooms at night. A world in which the words random senseless and Vio Lence have become one inseparable phrase. So when the first arrests were made in this Case what i heard was a Peculiar sigh of Relief. The focus shifted from the image of a stranger to that of a hired hit Man. The charge is that Kerrigan was no the target of some random hater but of a rival ice Queen s court. The crazed maniac is said to be a Man paid to Knock off or Al least Knock out the Competition for the Gold medal. This is what passes for understandable for sensible violence Kerrigan and Tonya Harding Are a study in telegenic contrasts on and off the ice. The made for television producers in hot Pursuit of this tale already ict1ow to lilt Nancy is the taller dark haired Graceful daughter of a Massachusetts welder and a Mother who is legally Blind. Her Blue Collar family remortgage their House to pay for her lessons. Now with the made for endorsements image of a Young Katharine Hepburn she s signed on to sell watches soup and sneakers. Tonya is the Short Blond and powerful survivor of an Oregon family that put the Dys before this athlete picked up returnable bottles on the High Way to help pay for lessons. She was also abused by her husband whom she divorced but then moved Back in with. If these Young women Are both competitive and driven it s with different styles. Nancy is dignified and a touch shy. Tonya is Tough in your face with a love of drag racing Nancy is the classic in age of the figure skater. Tonya As sports illustrated put it is not your average ice if these two Ever still end up skating for the United states at the olym pics they la be going for the Gold of the human interest events sports soap opera and Oprah rolled into one. But whatever happens rivalry does t answer the question that follows any act of violence Why Why Why rivalry does t explain this any More fully than it explains the murderous mobs at soccer matches the behaviour of the Steffi Graf fan who attacked Seles or even the Texas Mother who plotted to kill the Mother of her daughter s competitor for cheerleader. Nancy Kerrigan in t just anyone in t just any of us on a commuter train or a City Street. So the Public mood shifts from fear to fascination. If the police Are right this attack was t random. It was As focused As a Metal bar on a skater s leg. But what an Odd and anxious state we Are in if this kind of violence Ever starts to make sense. C Trio Boston Globe
