European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 06, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday decembers. 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13 barrage against Gingrich at a recent gathering of my Peers no Small achievement one observer volunteered that in his life time including Nixon he had never seen so concentrated a Battery of. Derogation As has been fired in the past three weeks at Newt Gingrich. The operative scare word these Days he pointed out is and in deed Gingrich is in the eyes of his chattering critics scary. But he is also a great Deal else. In search of the definitive demotion one turns to the new yorker wherein the talented David Remnick he vote Lenin s Tomb presides Over Beltway opinion. After Reading his profile of Gingrich you might not go away thinking him scary in the sense that or. Strange love was scary Rem Nick does t discover a nuclear missile under Newt s bed but scary in the sense that he is an utterly unwholesome human being who has blindsided Amer Ica into giving him a Post of Crit ical William f. Buckley. Responsibility without the Public s having weighed his extraordinary personal Dis qualifications. Like what Well although he is for family values. Newt has been divorced. Well divorces Are very sad events but they do happen widely As for instance in our time to Adlai Stevenson and Ronald Reagan. But his antics mix much melodrama into the telling of tie circumstances of the divorce the punchline of which is that Gingrich is said to have brought into his wife Dur ing her recovery a pad of paper on which he had writ ten out the suggested arrangements for the divorce. It is made to sound very much As though the mortgage banker had visited the moments before the end demanding extra Money to pay for the Leaky a " it in t until some time later in the narrative that one learns that the former wife is very much alive we Are Happy to learn 16 years after the recovery room trans action. V a -. V Remnick reminds us most people knew it that Gin Grich did not serve in the Vietnam War though Rem Nick smiles bravely through his retrieval of this Datum to acknowledge that Gingrich s explanation for not going to Vietnam he pleaded parenthood which was a deferrable event has never been shielded by such nervous indirection As characterized Bill Clinton on the subject of his own War record. But this does not prevent him from observing that notwithstanding Viet Nam Gingrich has posed As a Hawk in Congress what is the difference Between posing As a Hawk and being a Hawk one wonders Abe Lincoln was one hell of a Hawk Back then although he never himself saw action. .-.-. A in assessing Gingrich the goal of his critics is total St no concessions Are made. Well yes Gingrich got a . And taught history but he never got tenure in College. On the other hand that is not so unusual at age 28. In any Case Gingrich is no great that s right nor has Gingrich Ever said that scholarship was his primary interest. At the time that Adlai St Yenson the intellectuals dream boy was nominated for president not one listing under his name appeared in the readers guide to periodical literature where minimal journalistic and scholarly events Are recorded he is also reminiscent of the Middle brow thinkers of the 19th Century who won their Fame explaining All in a single volume Henry George whose Progress and poverty Lead to the single tax movement. A Henry George a Middle brow thinker what would that make of such As Albert Jay Nock one of George s biographers who deemed George among the seminal minds of the economic Renaissance but you can t win. Gingrich is a hypocrite an eccentric a woozy Futurist he is lacking in wit Given to schematic political and intellectual constellations. Why he even makes you know who look Good Newt cannot Wear the White hat of Ronald Reagan. He wears his Black hat proudly and to the future -1. Now that kind of rhetoric disguised As analysis be trays True fear and one wonders just exactly what Are the grounds for this fear. That under Newt americans will be permitted to starve that in to really very Likely but under pc Newt americans Are very widely permitted to be killed mugged raped casually impregnated exposed Day and night to the sepsis of modern culture rendered illiterate by indulgent inattention. Dear Newt is not going to change All of that. The Prophet Jonah did not succeed against Nineveh. But what we Are learning is that those Nice people at the opinion stands of american liberalism just Don t like old testament sounds. Scary. Jun Varsal press Syndicate " " in final passage of the Gatt legis lation by the House last tuesday and the Senate last thursday night the Only possible outcome in a rational world was greeted with a sigh of Relief but muted by the knowledge that it never should have taken so Long or been the subject of such amazing and bitter opposition. Better than any other Symbol the fractious argument Over Gatt illuminates the Drift in America into Neo isolationism. Not Only did the Congress Hesi Tate on Gatt and pass it Only after a self serving escape clause engineered by Republican sen. Bob Dole but presi Dent Clinton fearing the opposition of protectionists in his own party waited Over Long to launch a full court press for the legislation. The arguments against Gatt Assem bled by democratic sen. Ernest Hollings lacking for the textile Industry in South Carolina by Ralph Nader and by Politi Cally ambitious Ross Perot generated a fear that America somehow would be out voted by smaller Powers in a new world Trade organization and would thereby lose this was a red herring no More accurate than Perot s wild Ariti Naftal warning of a giant sucking sound that represented american jobs lost to mexi co. Under the original terms of the Gatt pact any country that feels it is being mistreated can opt put on six months notice. The isolationist trend behind the at tack be tokens a belief that America can not be competitive without a Protection is Trade Wall. It is also based on fear that expanded world Trade will somehow re Duce the american Standard j f jiving although the evidence of the last 50 years is totally to the contrary. I therefore what Hollings Nader and Perot want is a fortress America secured by a huge military build up these Gatt critics will now stand solidly be Hind Newt Gingrich s proposed National Security restoration act which openly pledges a disengagement of America from the world. This Bill one of 10 to be brought to a House vote As part of the Gingrich inspired contract with America would bar Arhe rican troops from participating order United nations or any foreign it would seek to limit the presence of . Personnel in unstable regions such As Haiti Iraq Bosnia Mac Edonia the Adriatic sea Rwanda and the l. _. _. Yet another Symbol of isolationist times to come will be the accession of sen. Jesse Helms to the chairmanship of the Senate foreign relations commit tee. Helms with a Ping record of obstruction to centrist foreign policy whether formulated by democratic or Republican presidents will make it difficult for Republican moderates to join with the Clinton administration Over the next two years to carry out Trade negotiations with Asia and latin America. Nowhere is the potentially devastating Impact of the impending new isolationist Era better appreciated than at the trea sury department the administration s Lead Agency in managing economic relationships with the rest of the world. House republicans have already made Clear that they will take an especially sour look at foreign Aid Russia included. Treasury undersecretary Lawrence Summers recently called the american executive directors of the Sev eral key International financial institutions including the world Bank International monetary fund and the development Banks for Europe Asia and Africa to Washington to discuss the problem .,._ -.-. Later Summers told reporters this is obviously a . Internationalism is going to be under question. You see that in the degree of controversy surrounding the Gatt. You see it in the discussions on going right now about Bosnia. From the Treasury s perspective sum mers added the two key pillars of any viable foreign policy Are the maintenance of Security and the maintenance of pros and the most Cost effective Way for the United states to achieve those interrelated objectives Summers argued is through continued participation in the International lending agencies. But the question now arises whether the Republican led Congress will allow the administration to continue its Strong monetary support of the International financial institutions which helps generate american Export sales. Summers expressed the Hope that the More centrist members of con Gress would endorse not Only the Cost effective yield of every Dollar the United states puts in the financial institutions but would agree that these agencies As they increasingly support privatization Are the Best International advocates of Market oriented voting Power in these institutions Summers noted is based on contributions and since the United states is the largest or co largest shareholder in All of them it has controlling Power. So the spurious sovereignty argument raised against the Gatt cannot be used against participation in the financial institutions. Summers makes a logical Case. But Dowa deep he and other Clinton officials know that most congressmen democrats included Lump All the contributions to the International lending institutions As foreign getting approval for new Money for these institutions always has been like pulling Teeth. For the next two years As America turns inward getting support for the International agencies could be even More painful. Distributed by scrupps Howard Nowa service
