Tuesday, August 30, 1G33 Pago 4 Dally Ncbrcskan 4 miinLitmen'c Nebraska Gov. Bob Kerrey apparently has forgot ten what he was elected to da Frustrated with four non-productive years under former Gov. Charles Thone, Nebraskans elected a governor they thought had the ability and dedica tion to solve the many problems that plague the state. Instead, it appears they elected a governor who barely stays home long enough to know what the problems are, much less solve them. The Omaha World-Herald reported Saturday that Kerrey has spent 55 of his 23S days as governor out of the state. Twenty-two of those were for official state business, but 33 were for personal reasons, the story said. No one can deny that Kerrey's trips, along with his Changing times leave family tree drawers out on a long limb The girl is spending the summer with her extend ed family. She doesnt put it this way. But as we talk on the beach, 10-year-old lists the people who are sharing the same house this month with the careful attention of a genealogist. First of all there is he? father visitation rights awarded him for the month of August Second of all there is her father's second wife and two children by her first marriage. All that seems perfectly clear. A stepmother and two stepbrothers. Then there are the others. There is her stepmoth- frequent outspokenness on controversial issues, have helped draw national attention to the states highest office. The guess here, however, is that Nebraska resi- dents would rather see their governor at home, solv ing the problems at hand, not hundreds of miles from here speaking out on some issue he has no control over. That's not to say Kerrey should spend his entire term in Lincoln. Indeed, the governor has to main tain contacts with other officials to help promote the state's agricultural products. But, Kerrey, who -has been in office little more than half a year, has overdone it. He has taken numerous personal trips and "fact-finding" missions which were not necessary. Kerrey's Chief of Staff Bill Hoppner told the World-Herald that the governor has not been out of Nebraska any more than his predecessors, but that his trips have been more visible because he "is reach ing the public eye" and has been more outspoken. Maybe so, but we believe Nebraska's governor has plenty to do right here in Lincoln. The country has more than enough elected officials to handle the national problems and Kerrey's outspokenness has done little more than insult and embarrass many Nebraskans. Kerrey would be wise to renew his commitment to Nebraska before his credibility declines any further. If he doesnt, he could find it difficult to lead the state the next three and a half years, and he could find the going rough if he choses to seek another term in 1986. X 1 Ellen Goodman er's sister, for example. The girl isnt entirely sure whether this makes the woman a step-aunt, or whether her baby is a step-cousin. Beyond that, the real puzzle is whether her step-aunt's husband's children by his first marriage have any sort of offi cial relationship to her at alL It does, we both agree) seem a bit fuzzy. Nevertheless, she concludes with a certainty that can only be mustered by the sort of 10-year-old who keeps track of her own Frequent Flier coupons: "We are in the same family." With that, she closes the subject and focuses instead on her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I am left to my thoughts. My companion, in her own unself-conscious way, is a fine researcher. She grasps the wide new family configurations that are neglected by census data takers and social scient ists. After all, those of us who grew up in traditional settings remember families which extended into elaborate circles of aunts, uncles and cousins. There were sides to this family, names and titles to be memorized. But they fit together in a biological pattern.' . Now, as my young friend can attest, we have fewer children and more divorces. We know that as many as 50 percent of recent marriages may end. About 75 percent of divorced women and 03 percent of divorced men remarry. Of those remarriages, 59 percent include a child from a former marriage. So, our families often extend along lines that are determined by decrees, rather than genes. If the nucleus h broken, there are stO links forged in dif ferent directions. Last winter, the son of a friend was asked to produce a family tree for his sixth-grade class. But he was dissatisfied with his oak. There t,-3 no room on it for his ttep-cread&thsr, though the man had married his widowed grandmother jeers ega. - Here to the point, the bey had to crease an off shoot for his new baby half-brother that zzzzzzd too distant He couldnt find a proper place for th3 ur.cla former uncle to be precise who ha visited last 4f Wr "' 4 n -"TO? - 'V X """V Vyr' Tike oiDieiidleF, tike ofSeiadledl responsible for '80s gemdleir i In the '60s it was the generation gap in the 70s the credibility gap and now, the 1980s seem quickly to be shaping up as the decade of the gender gap. The gender gap, for those whose subscriptions to Newsweek have lapsed, is the term the press has ascribed to the growing schism between President .V Mike Fniet Reagan and alienated women voters. The situation has been exacerbated by Reagan's tendency to, in the view of his press aides, speak off the cu4 or, in the view of the women's groups, speak, period. In a way, one must feel sorry for the president One hates to call an oppressed group "naive." How ever, expecting a man who always has referred to his wife as "mommy" and labels woman's greatest achievement badgering man out of the Cro-Magnon period to trade in his greenbacks for Susan B. Anthony doZsrs seems a bit fantastic. Clearly, then, the women's groups are simply IzZz':;It,z examples graphics Custrate this point A family tree jist didn't work, he exp!sJ!isd. lie IwiuJ Iu.IV lw 1 Wi W Vl ' 1 ., luww3. The reality is that divorce has created kinship tics that rival the most complex trEs. These are net mtwmwm AAinf ,tf 5r A f4 - 4vjriA VwwJT 4 viMt&Ajr--' AAftC V V'al 4-4 ivi . ' Cc, cm a .3 3 T7iS3'3 riots' ;i:slthsywptns-tos-y:Ii are r-arar.tscd fc3 z?A erirA riht imL "--1211 g--3 bstsad: Tcmen's rights? You bet psca ere right. It's that blessed feminine V. ttrrosst hL-a to ssy: There is no tolerance f;r L.13 t:s cf crir.a Li Ar.srica." ; 1 What hell say instead: I notice nobody seems to worry about battered husbands." The gains wemea have cada ia czr cidlsty: What they want him to say: "Women's progress over the past few decades proves that, even with unnecessary obstacles, intelligence and persever ance can sometimes overcome illegally placed barriers." What hell say instead: "Betty Crocker b quite a gal, isn't she?" .. . X7esaa la fcigi CxxzzlzzX peis: What they want him to say: "This administration will take all steps necessary to guarantee women parity in governmental hirrcgi" What hell say instead: "Would yoa letjur daugh ter marry one?" The l2t deciles: What they want him to say: "Women's rights groups can play an important pert in deciiini who wtJ be in the WTiite House in 1C33." What heU say instead: "Let's quielJy rcpeel the lBth Amendment" . It is clear, then, that rcepcnstyfsr C.2 grcr-.1r.g gender gap nn be attributed to bcth the cruder and the cCended. - As for the president, h.3 shei try to terror his language somewhat v;hen l:-z:r C ir3 cf women's rights. Inrte-3 clcr; 1-g"mrj rTe 13 due solely to feziilj r.'::;.- t.e J tcu".7 remark that vcr "i r' -j i-r - r crag them arcur.d tvL!""'- s " - ' - mit diplemitleelj r. 1- . As for the wcer'3 t- -7 - peTcJfertheb.r.:!: e;:r ' : ' ": ' -1 that e, cfry tt:i l.'- 3 z:: , -; : :