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:: , -; : :
