European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 11, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Siee lights Quayle and rest plus Clinton Clarence Page s i write Dan Quayle is reported to be testing the Waters for a presidential Runin 1996. He probably thinks he has something to prove. To those who Don think he has half a brain in his head he probably wants to prove that yes he does too have half a brain in his head. If so maybe a presidential run is the wrong Way for him to go. I can t think of a thing that would demonstrate his Superb intelligence More effectively in these confusing times than for him to run away from the Job not toward it. Seldom has the presidency been a More thankless task. Just ask the fellow who currently holds the Job what he is going through. So far under Bill Clinton s watch the Economy has recovered deficit growth has reversed Naftal was passed the crime Bill passed reaganomics has been reversed tax credits have been expanded for the lowest income workers and the tax Burden has shifted to the upper income brackets peace has broken out Between Israel and Yasser Arafat and health care has become a top priority of Congress. And what is his Reward a Lousy 38 percent approval rating in a recent can Gallup poll. Yes voters Tell pollsters we appreciate his efforts. But we still Don t Trust him. No single big offence has Hurt the Clinton Smuch As a string of Little obfuscation about faces or Doublespeak questionable episodes commonly abbreviated in conversations As Gennifer Flowers. Did t inhale. The draft Haiti. Whitewater. Paula Jones. Bosnia. Cattle futures. Vince Foster s files. Universal Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton who promised a centrist course Are ridiculed by the right abandoned by the left distrusted by moderates and challenged at various turns by fellow democrats. The latest to come out kicking the battered body i Jesse Jackson. After months of grumbling in private he told reporters Here in Washington that he is so sadly disappointed with Clinton s performance in office that he is considering challenging the presi Dent in 1996, either for the democratic nomination or by running As an Independent. Which should be just about All president Point unneeded to hear to spoil his vacation. A Jackson Chal Lenge could Chip deeply into the Only voters poll show Clinton has left these Days the democratic base Blacks labor and various other progressives. But All is not lost for the Clinton. The fable comeback kid can recover. Reagan did. His approval ratings were about that Low in 1982. But that was in the Depths of a recession. If Clinton is doing this badly during a recovery one shudders at what his approval ratings would be like if the Economy Heads South again. Ron and Nancy Reagan also were helped by the fiercely unified forces and fund raising abilities of the political right rallying around them. Clinton was Able to unify democrats Long enough Towin in 1992, but it did t last Long. Still 1996 is a Long Way off. We must remember that George Bush appeared unbeatable with approval ratings in the 80s months before his change. Here s what the Clinton have in their favor first Clinton does t give up. Americans appreciate tenacity especially when it is expended on their behalf. /-._-. Vhf. Second he s at his Best when his Back is up against the ropes As he showed in last year s budget fight and Naftal fight and this year s crime Bill fight. Third when he becomes impassioned he sounds very sincere and As George Burns once said if Youcan fake that you be got it made. Fourth the president actually might Benefit from a crowded Field. With Ross Perot and other possible challengers attracted to a weakened incumbent like Sharks to blood in the water they might Chew each other up in the feeding frenzy. Fifth the Abb anybody but Bill movement has yet to coalesce around a single alternative candidate. As distrustful As voters May be of the Clinton they have yet to be thrilled by the Republican tag team either. An Abc poll in late july when the Whitewater controversy was a bigger Story than it is now put Clinton up against two of his most popular potential rivals Senate minority Leader Bob Dole and retired Gen. Colin Powell a Darling of Republican conversations although he has declared no party affiliation publicly. Clinton beat both of them separately . A. ". ,." besides As much As i wish America had come that far i Don t think most White voters Are ready to sup port a Black candidate for president in 1996. My advice to Powell is this take the Money from your lucrative Book Deal and Don t run. That s not bad advice for the rest either. William Bennett announced recently that he is pulling his hat out the ring for 1996 before he Ever officially threw it in. ,. My hat is off to him. Great As our respect May before those who take on the weighty task of president in these troubled times it should be surpassed Only by our admiration for those who show they have the Good sense to pass it up. Chicago Tribune. Andy Rodney it s not usually apparent to an american visit ing England but there is a lot of anti americanism in great Britain. I like and Admire the British so much that it always bothers almost two years As a reporter for the stars and stripes in world War ii i worked where we printed the paper in the times building just off Fleet Street in London. It was an experience that has led me to refer to that London newspaper As simply the i Call the newspaper printed in new York the new York you won t hear me saying the Lon Don times because that in t its name. Most London newspapers make our supermarket tabloids look Good. The British have the worst pressing the world and the times is one of the few exceptions. \ ,.-. _ our daughter Ellen married an englishman an lives in London. We talk frequently and Exchange clippings of Mutual interest yesterday i received from her a Long obituary for Donald Swann which had been printed in the times in March. Donal Swann was the piano playing partner of the great British comedy team of Flanders and Swann. They were on a lot of to shows in the United states an had a Long running show on Broadway called at the Dropo Farhat. Swann s obituary has no byline so i Don t know who the unlucky writer was. There should be a by line on anything with so Many personal opinions in it. A writer ought to be obliged to own up to his work. / this writer was unlucky because he never suspected that one of his readers in London would clip his article and Send it to her father in new York who would in turn bother to Check up on something the writer quoted from a now defunct new Yor newspaper printed Way Back in 1959. He had a plagiarist s ethics. British resentment of America and americans i insidious and surfaces in curious places. Insidious is the word for the anti americanism in this obituary. Three quarters of the Way into the article the writer says the comedy team came to new York and opened on Broadway. American audiences when they first encountered the pair in 1959, hardly knew what to make of them the writer says. Then he quotes a review " an Over age altar boy who is losing his hair began the Herald Tribune s bewildered critic on Well. The critic Walter Kerr one of the Best did not begin his review that Way and neither was he bewildered by Flanders and Swann. The Start of his review actually read at the drop of a hat has no scenery no costumes no orchestra jus two men alone on stage completely surrounded by the Over age altar boy line was Kerr being funny which was Clear in context. Kerr ended his Long glowing review in the Herald Tribune this Way whatever it is that runs through both these gentlemen s veins it makes them Lively witty literate ingratiating explosively funny and excellent excellent companions for a Daffy and Delight Ful does that sound As though the new York critic hardly knew what to make of them Why would a London writer go out of his Way to write a false line in order to make americans sound stupid and he Morless i not Only checked that oct. 9,1959, Herald trib Une. I also read the reviews of at the drop of 9 hat in four other new York newspapers that existed at the time and they were All favourable. I am angry that a London writer would go so Farouk of his Way to contribute to the popular British idea that americans just Don t get it. The writer is either dumb or dishonest and the review is otherwise Well written so i Don t think he s dumb. Tribune Media services september 11.1994 sunday Page 9
