European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 21, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday july 21, 1994 commentary i the stars and stripes Page 17 Dan hot summer topics Tor those who base their opinions on principled disagreement with everything that appears in this space Here is a set of knee jerks for july to Cope with events to come while i am on vacation. A Leon Panacea presents the new organized pragmatic no frenetic Clinton White House. Do not be suckered although this annual summer shuffle will be heralded As the most fundamental shift in governance since the importation of super pragmatist David Ger Gen last summer the sense of shake up will last Only until Leon attempts to wrest Power from the real chief of staff. Mack Mclarty who went to kindergarten with Clinton is taking their old Sandbox into the Oval offices Bunker of broken dreams. Meanwhile Over at state a Vorphal Blade goes Snicke snack the new foggy Bottom triumvirate of Talbott Holbrooke and Gergen will Praise Warren Christopher and Tony Lake with such vehemence that the cynical Media will assume a coup is in the making. Ignore such halt of Mirror analysis Chris arid Tony Are As solidly ensconced As Mack was. # Whitewater hear Ings begin in the House banking committee on july 26. If chairman Hymy Gonzalez protective Democrat Bangs his Gavel on Republican Prober Jim leaches head denounce the congressional cover up. If a judicial panel rubber Stamps the appointment of anti oversight Robert Fiske As Independent counsel castigate the pusillanimous court of appeals. A democrats try to portray republicans As captive of Christian rights Lunatic fringe., the democratic Campaign chairman Vic Fazio will step up the Effort to scare jews out of the Republican party by bashing the evangelical right. The gop should Point to Fazion a refusal for fear of offending the demo Black caucus to join the House vote condemning Khalid Abdul Muhammad a bigoted a a bloodsucker speech. Beware of hardball playing pols masquerading As libertarians while pumping up a Quot Radical villain. A wars ainu to Over till they re Over. The West will lean on muslims and croats to legitimize serbian Conquest of half of Bosnia and will denounce aggression s victims when they done to. The fairest Deal will be struck when forces Are equal and tired get . Out arms to muslims in. A double Helix solves double murder. If Dnay a Quot super fingerprints put . Simpson at the William Safire scene of the crime defense counsels strategy could shift to an attack on the sex wife As a maddening slut. Stop treating this merely As a True life whodunit but focus on the need not Only to find the perpetrator but to avenge the victims. Exhort vast audience to Root for Justice not for the dramatic protagonist or to Marvel at competing counsel. Quot a yen for a Penny. If the Dollar drifts Down another 5 percent or so Yawn but if the Dollar keeps slipping without a Bottom in sight inflation and higher interest rates Are a coming Ana it would be prudent to indulge in a bit of panic. A apostles of Haiti. July is a custom diary month for hitting the Beach. If Clinton wants to look Strong to his Liberal constituency he will Send the marines into Haiti if he wants to look smart As Well As Tough to conservatives he will Send in a Force led by secretly trained haitians. Cautiously Salute the former throw hats in the air at the latter Hoot at continued water treading. A Beltway Wisdom confounded on health insurance. On the Senate floor Doles Quot four not a Quot will prevail no Price controls no mandates no triggers no taxes. Instead Well see More coverage despite preexisting conditions which a cannot be taken away a with insurance subsidies for the poor. Credit Clinton for starting it Dole for stopping it. A c now York times. In despite the inherent difficulties a dialogue is beginning to take place Between people in government and people in the press about the deterioration in the tone and Quality of Public discourse in this country. It is Worth pursuing despite the different agendas politicians and journalists bring to it. The White House and members of Congress have policies to push elections to win. The press has both a moneymaking motive and a Public service obligation. Where the interests of the two overlap is in combating cynicism and cynicism is epidemic right now. It saps Peoples Confidence in politics and Public officials and it erodes both the standing and the standards of journalism. If the. Assumption is that nothing is on the level nothing is what it seems then citizenship becomes a game for fools and there is no Point in trying to stay informed. President Clinton a denunciation of talk shows and tabloid television was easily dismissed As self pitying or self serving. But the degradation of journalism by entertainers who Are More interested in making a sensation than in making sense is All too real. Tom rosenste1l, a los Angeles times writer on the Media says in a newly published twentieth Century fund essay 77ie beat goes on that a Trumor and innuendo now find their Way into the press and Public dialogue More easily than they once  he cites this example a right Wing newsletter arrives by fax at Many news organizations carrying the unsubstantiated report that White House Deputy counsel Vincent Foster had actually died in a White House a Safe House a and that his body had been moved to the Park where authorities had said his suicide took place. Hush Limbaugh picks up the report and puts it on the air. A Florida talk show Host embellishes it into a talc of murder. Stock Market speculators feed the Rumor hoping to make Money by spooking the Market. And the next Day the Washington Post business Section runs 3 Story about the Rumor that moved the Market. At a forum where Rosen Steily a essay was discussed Paul Begala a political consultant and Clinton adviser noted the trivialization of news that he said had produced four times As Many stories about Tonya Harding As about the Clinton health care plan. Others made the Point that More and More a a news in print and on to is not narrative or exposition but analysis and interpretation. And much of the interpretation feeds cynicism by suggesting that there is a selfish partisan or political motive behind everything the president or sen. Bob David s. Broder j Dole or whoever has done. The result is that Clinton Congress and politicians of both parties a and the Media who report on them a arc viewed through an increasingly negative filter and often not seen clearly at All. In the last week two stories i worked on using Washington Post Abc news polls really have brought that Home. One showed that the Quot Clinton health plan has continued to lose its Appeal while two of its Central features a a guarantee of health insurance for everyone and a requirement that employers buy their workers health insurance a command overwhelming support. The disconnect Between the plan and its major elements represents a huge failure of communication by the nations Media and the nations political leadership. Even More striking is the evidence from another Post Abc news poll of widespread ignorance of what Congress has or has not done. As Many americans think this Congress has passed a major Bill limiting immigration which it has not As believe it has Cut billions from the deficit which is the Case. Rosenstiel and White House adviser George Steph Nopoulos have said separately but in near chorus that one reason the s instance of policy is not communicated is that reporters carry Over to their coverage of government the Campaign mind set of horse race journalism. Process stories predominate and the emphasis is on who is gaining or losing not on what is being done. That May be True but the White House suffers from the same problem. Bob Woodward a Book the Agenda shows that Campaign types such As Begala and his partner James Carville have been Given equal standing in White House economic policy meetings As the Secretary of Treasury the budget director and the presidents economic adviser. The consultants purpose is to impose the Campaign Agenda on government. Not surprisingly the rhetoric a the very language a of the White House sounds like an unending Campai Gri with a War rooms and the rest. The Point is that no one is Well served by what is happening. The Public does not get the Basic information it needs for citizenship. The government does not get the support it deserves when it does  has been elected to do. And the press finds itself drawn into a downward spiral of cheapened values and lost respect. A sensible dialogue Between press and government is Only a Start on improving Public understanding and reducing cynicism. But a Start it is. C Washington Post the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government