European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 03, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday february 3, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 17, feminists Are Bab Bitting up a met of haystacks Ellen Goodman the Straw feminist has made another Cameo appearance. She is everywhere now stalks of wheat sticking out of her militant clothing. She is starring in the aftermath of the trial that found Lorena Bobbitt in Nocent by virtue of temporary insanity. This is a feminist dream come True grumbled one Man in the Street As he conjured her up for the television viewers it s open season on what you re doing is licensing the feminists to come and slice our penises off William Margold a longtime porno Star said in the Washington Siller the founder of something called.,the National organization for men said on the today show that after the verdict there was a lot of glee from Radical he pointed to an ecuadorean group that threatened to Cut off a Hundred penises if Lorena were found guilty. Well i thought i had gotten used to the Straw feminist. Twenty Odd years ago she emerged like eve out of the extra rib or at least the excess stuffing of the Straw Man. The Straw Man had been a useful creature through out history. Whenever people argued he could be pulled together quickly out of the nearest available Haystack and set up As an opponent. The Beauty of the Straw Man was that he was easily Defeated you hardly had to Huff and puff before you could blow him Down. The Straw Man was also useful As a scarecrow. The arguments attributed to him were not Only Flimsy but also i was t surprised when the Straw feminist was sighted burning her Bra a dangerous thing for any Straw per son to do at a miss America pageant. The fact that there never was a Bra burning was irrelevant. Feminist became Bra burners. Not to mention Man haters. The Straw feminist wanted to drive All women out of their Happy Homes and into the work Force. The Straw feminist had an abortion As casually As she had a tooth Straw feminist and her first Cousin the Radical feminist was hostile to family life and wanted children warehoused in government run Day and night care. At times the Straw feminist was painted slightly Pinko by the anti communists or rather Lavender by the anti lesbians. But it was generally agreed upon that she was a castrating Well you fill in the Blank. This creature was most helpful for discrediting real feminists but also Handy for scaring supporters away. Unless you can gum Nweeia won t one most word about the beat it i whenever a woman stuck up for her rights she could be asked through narrowing eyes you re riot one of those feminists Are you it got so that Many Young women would begin their most modest statements with a nervous glance at this voodoo figure saying i m not a feminist the funny thing is that Over the years remark ably few people investigated her stuffing. Which feminists for example chirp ily extol abortion on de Mand names please. How Many feminists have actually trashed the importance of child raising num Bers please. The lady was simply accepted As real. I suppose it s possible to find a feminist for any Posi Tion. There is no admissions exam to the sisterhood. There is As much variety under the umbrella bearing this Label As there is outside it. Despite the reappearance of the Straw feminist it is hard to find Many who see Lorena Bobbitt As a Stan Dard bearer of the movement and a role Model for Little girls everywhere. Anita Hill she in t. Nor Hillary Rodham Clinton. It is harder still to find Many who consider male Gen ital mutilation As the Way to even up the score betwee men and women. Even the Straw collectors had to go to Ecuador to find the raw material for this fantasy. In the Wake of this unique and legally complicated Case women s groups were careful not to applaud violence. Men As Well As women weighed John s violence against Lorna s. The jury itself As one juror said walked through it and tried 10 put ourselves in her they ultimately believed that the woman had been abused until she snapped. So be it. For 45 Days Lorena Bobbitt will be under Obser vation in the Hospital. For those Days and More keep an Eye on the Straw feminist. In the current incendiary state of male female relations i fear she s being used As kindling. C Trio Boston Globe Clinton Waves double Edge sword in health fight mowed solely As a piece of Politi Cal rhetoric president Clinton s state of the Union address last week was one of the a St speeches of his presidency. It showed him As a feisty emotional chief executive with Strong convictions All qualities americans Admire in the Oval a state of the Union address is not just another stump speech it is a govern ing document. Along with the budget it sets the tone and direction for a president s dealings with Congress. By making the Centrepiece of his speech an explicit and dramatic threat to use a veto pen on any health Reform Bill that does not guar Antee Universal coverage Clinton consciously set himself an even More difficult Challenge on Capitol Hill. If Clinton s popular support continues to grow the veto threat May stiffen democratic backbones and Wilt enough wobbly republicans to get Clinton a healthcare Victory that eclipses anything that Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman or Lyndon Johnson accomplished in that the other hand that threat was vivid enough to leave Clinton with very Little crawl space if in the end he has to Compromise. Like George Bush s memorable read my lips pledge to veto any new taxes it s a television Vignette that can be replayed Over and Over if Congress forces Clinton As it did Bush to Back Down., in the Short term the president s theatrical gesture was a big hit Only wit House liberals who favor a single payer plan and key committee and subcommittee chairmen such As Dan Rostenkowski d-ill., of the ways and Means commit tee and John d. Dingell d-mich., and Henry a Waxman d-calif., of Energy and Commerce committee who have to get the Clinton plan off the draw ing Board and into position for floor action later this year. They have to be in a Posi Tion to assure wavering House democrats that if they stick with the president in the face of Strong in Terest group pres sure from Home he will not abandon them As he did on last year s Broad based Energy tax proposal. House democratic leaders whipped the troops hard to support the Btu tax last Spring Only to see the president drop the proposal As soon As objection surfaced among key Senate democrats. The White House recognized the need for such a health care guarantee and it was one reason Clinton decided to make the veto threat. But the working Assumption of the White cause and of legislate strategists on All sides of the debate is that any Mea sure that passes must have the support of Manv conservative democrats and at least some republicans. In the House moderate and conserva Tive democrats clustered in the South will be needed to overcome what is expected to be near solid Republican opposition to the Clinton plan. In the Senate the requirement of 60 votes to end a filibuster demands that the measure be made palatable to some of the 44 of the Middle route Democrat Sand virtually All of the republicans including Senate minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas have been arguing for an incremental approach that would pro vide health insurance for millions More people and increase the Securi of those who fear their current policies May be claim this can be done with out the employer mandates and the com plex system of tax subsidies Clinton would use to give every american citizen a health Security . Jim Cooper d-tenn., principal sponsor of one of the half a loaf alternatives likes to Point out that in Hawaii where a state run Universal coverage plan he been in effect for five years some people remain uncovered. Cooper says it s As High As 6 percent of Hawaii s population the state says 2 percent to 4 , sen. Dave Durenberger r minn., one of the gop senators most interested in forging a Compromise says that the veto threat makes sense but. Only if Clinton is prepared to reopen Dis Cussion of How to get As close As possible to total coverage. But the threat was not Welcome news to Senate finance committee chairman Daniel Patrick Mynihan . Moynihan wants and believes he needs Dole to be aboard the health Reform Bill that emerges from the finance commit tee the chairman has expressed his own doubts about the intricate design of the Clinton plan and appears to be using Dole s objections to deflate the White House s ambitions. The. Debate Between the incr mentalists and the Universal its is not confined to Capitol Hill it also has been raging inside the White House. White House chief of staff Thomas Mack Mclarty and Counselor David Gergen have been talking regularly with Cooper and his Senate counterpart sen. John b. Breaux d-la., about possible areas of Compromise. Meantime first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and health policy adviser Ira Magaziner backed by pollster Stan Greenberg have been urging the presi Dent to hold out for the whole prize. The inclusion of the veto threat was a Victory for the hard liners in the White House. They were vindicated by the strik ing Success it achieved As a piece of Polit ical theater. What chains to be seen is How it plays out in the real world of legislation. C the Washington Post
