European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 20, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday january 20,1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17 Clinton s integrity Hurt by dam Cal Thomas it is hardly to his credit that presi Dent Clinton succumbed to intense Politi Cal pressure and agreed to the appoint ment of a special prosecutor to investigate the relationship that he and his wife had to the defunct Whitewater development co. Inc. After repeatedly asserting that no investigation was needed the president gets no Points for integrity by caving in to the inevitable. Integrity is the most important charac Ter Quality a presi Dent can have and by waiting so Long to address concerns raised in Many quarters from editorial pages at tradition ally Liberal news papers to Mem Bers of his own party the presi Dent has squandered what is left of his. When integrity Dies no amount of Media manipulation stonewalling or Clever rhetoric can restore the Public s Trust. A visit to the dictionary reveals the importance of this critical character trait. Integrity an unimpaired condition soundness firm adherence to a code of especially moral. Values incorruptibility the Quality or state of being Complete or definition does not fit either the president s or Hillary Rodham Clin ton s actions As they mounted a Battle to keep information from the Public about their past activities a damage control task Force stayed in Washington during the president s european trip. But would there be damage to control if something was not amiss when questionable actions Are discovered the Best Way to manage damage is by full disclosure. The poet Alice Gary observed that True Worth is in being not seeming italics Are hers. In his Public life president Clinton has focused almost exclusively on seeming to be something that he. Clearly is questions of personal rectitude and marital Fidelity he seems to be a Man who is misunderstood and unjustly wronged by his political enemies for per Sonal gain. But increasingly the Public sees what he really is a skillful Manipula Tor who hides a classic Liberal political Agenda behind the facade of a moderate Iris Idzi even slightly conservative churchgoing family Man. Before caving in on the mat Ter of the special counsel the president told Dan rather the most important thing to me and the most important thing to the american people is i m completely relaxed about this because i did t do anything no or. President that is incorrect. Your relaxation level has nothing to do with it. Some people Are Cool enough to beat a polygraph test. Whether you and Hillary Clinton Are telling the truth is what is most important. The president should have taken a lesson from an Inci Dent 1 recall when i was a reporter in Houston. Then it. Gov. Bill Hobby had been stopped by a state police officer while driving in the Early morning hours in the Austin area. The police reported a woman was with him he described her As a British journalist and that bottles containing alcoholic beverages were on the Back seat. The Story made the front pages of Texas newspapers including the hous ton Post which was owned by the Hobby family. Hobby quickly pleaded guilty to a traffic violation and publicly apologized and the Story was forgotten. It is Clear that Quick and full disclosure remains the Best method for politicians to safeguard their integrity. Early confession about. Watergate misdeeds could have saved the Nixon administration from scandal and ultimately resignation. The cover up More than the in confessed deeds did in Nixon. Former education Secretary Wil Liam j. Bennett has compiled a collection of works on integrity and honesty called the Book of . Today it sits atop the new York times Best seller list an indication that this is a subject Large numbers of Ameri cans care deeply about. In his chapter on honesty Bennett says to be honest is to be real genuine authentic and Borut fide. To be dishonest is to be partly feigned forged fake or fictitious. Honesty expresses both self respect and respect for others. Dishonesty fully respects Nei ther oneself nor others. Honesty imbues lives with openness reliability and can Dor it expresses a disposition to live in the Light. Dive honesty seeks Shade cover or concealment. It is a disposition to live in the which of these descriptions most accurately reflects the attitude and be Havior of the Clinton does this administration seem to prefer the darkness to the Light because it has something to hide or. And is. President it s about time you came clean. C los Angeloa times government views tobacco As Friend and foe thirty years ago last week the first surgeon general s report linking cigarette smoking to cancer was released in Washington. The press conference was Rick on a saturday lest the news cause a panic on All Street. Ever since the relationship Between Commerce health and cigarettes has been a Touchy and a two faced one. On the one hand the government facilitates the Sale and use of tobacco through farm programs and Trade negotiations. On the other it decries its use through scientific papers and Public current food and drug administration regu lations cigarettes would not be accepted for marketing if they were introduced today. But cigarettes have never been classified As either food or drug which would require them to be Safe and effective they re classified As a device of pleasure. Tobacco has always had friends in High places. Yet despite the Best efforts of elected officials amply compensated in Campaign contributions and Well connected lobbyists amply compensated in tees the tobacco Industry has not succeeded in maintaining its standing in the United states. About 42 percent of All americans smoked at the time of he surgeon general s first report but today the number is Down to about 25 percent. Once Ameri cans got Wise to the health consequences of smoking there was Only one thing left for the Industry to do kill pm abroad. Philip Morris has acquired a controlling in Terest in what was once the state owned czech tobacco to Tussia it is building a factory in St. Petersburg and has agreed to assume a 49 percent stake and even Anna Quindlen tally the majority interest in a Plant Krasnodar South of Moscow. In that factory the company Hopes to double cigarette production within three years. Last summer Philip Morris announced that it had reached an agreement with the China National tobacco corp. To pro Duce and sell Marlboro and other brands in China. American Trade negotiations in recent years have also made it possible for american Tobac co companies to compete with Home grown competitors in Japan Taiwan and South _ Korea. An oncologist in Tokyo said several years ago that he was constantly asked the same question Why Are americans trying to encourage japanese to smoke for the Money of course. The social and moral responsibilities of big business make for interesting de Bate but any such discussion comes to naught with to Bacco companies which still deny the health risks of the product and insist they arc merely playing suppliers to Consumers demand. The truth is that tobacco companies have always Cre ated new demand for cigarettes by targeted advertising and sponsorship of sports and concert events. In China for example More than half of All men smoke but few women do. And if you believe disclaim ers by the cigarette companies that they will not target those women i be got a couple of Virginia slims ads you can hang on your bulletin Board. In Many of the same nations in which America pro Vides Aid or expertise to improve health care american tobacco companies Are moving in to in essence in crease transnational tobacco companies exploit our countries desperate need for immediate economic in vestment Public health officials from former soviet bloc nations wrote to president Clinton. But in so doing they damage our health and ruin our longer term economic Well being for years they be been doing the same Here Ere ate jobs kill workers. For three decades the tobacco interests have had to hone their rationales first Here now abroad. When you Are pursuing the moral equivalent of Selling Asbestos Hanc kerchiefs to foreign neigh Bors you have to have a Slick rap to go with it. Or not so he was questioned by lawyers in a class action suit last year Bennett sle Bow a new York investor whose holdings include the Liggett group a tobacco company said he neither knew nor cared to know whether cigarettes cause cancer. I m a businessman he said. The truth about tobacco Canie out 30 years ago in a state department auditorium in Washington . The cold War was still in full Flower. Certainly no one could have imagined that the Way we would find to eliminate the russians the chinese and the japanese would be three decades later to sell them cigarettes. And a in the name of Progress. C Tho new York tunes
