Opinion
Political poles
Role playing common as primary nears
During the 1988 presidential campaign, “liberal” was a
dirty woixi. In 1992, it could become a buzzword.
David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader and un
successful candidate for national and state office in Louisiana,
said Wednesday that he is after higher stakes. The imperial
wizard wants to move into the White House.
The announcement by Duke — a self-proclaimed Republi
can — conjures up unlikely images of President Bush calling
himself liberal on civil rights and other issues in an effort to
distance himself and his party from Louisiana’s favorite racist.
Making such a scenario even more likely is the expected an
nouncement of another right-wing challenge to President Bush,
* by political columnist Pat Buchanan. f
Bush is, of course, no liberal. His record on most foreign
and domestic issues places him comfortably in the Republican
camp. But some hard-core right-wingers obviously want more.
In an ordinary election year, Buchanan and Duke would go
the way of Pat Robertson. Even now, neither stands a chance of
winning the Republican nomination. But these are not ordinary
times, particularly in New Hampshire, which plays a dispropor
tionately large role in picking the next president.
n The state with the first primary election in the nation is
suffering through a hard winter. In 1988, New Hampshire was
still enjoying the tail end of an economic boom that made it
one of the most prosperous states. That, combined with the
influence of John Sununu, then New Hampshire’s governor,
propelled Bush to a primary victory and the White House.
Now Sununu is no longer a member of the Bush entourage,
and neither is prosperity, especially in New Hampshire.
Those factors, combined with the cantankerousness of
Granite State residents — the state mono is “Live Free or Die”
— add up to a potential problem for Bush. To maintain the
respectability of the Republican Party, he must continue to
disavow Duke, even though the Louisianian doesn’t plan to be
ready in time for New Hampshire. By doing so, however, Bush
makes himself vulnerable to frustration voters.
The end result probably will be a continued polarization of
the electorate. In tough limes, populism and demagoguery gain
appeal. Duke sounded such a call in his announcement speech:
“The grass roots of America must be allowed to speak. They’ve
got to be able to vote for people who really stand up for our
principles and our values.”
Democratic contenders, particularly Tom Harkin of Iowa,
have voiced similar themes from the left.
Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with letting the people
speak. Thai’s the purpose of a democracy.
But Duke’s announcement is an assault on this process. It
makes him sound like a democrat — the political philosophy,
not the party — and it clouds the issues. That poses a danger
not just to other candidates, but to the system itself. Especially
in hard limes. —EfJ>
What others think
Hostage release gives meaning to holidays
Thanksgiving is a day during which families traditionally
gather to gorge themselves with a plethora of provisions.
People spend the day after Thanksgiving buying luxuri
ous presents such as GI Joe accessories that go “boom,”
electronic games that go “ping” and an endless stream of toys
that would insult the intelligence of your average cat.
The return of hostages from Lebanon is a stark reminder of
what the season is supposedly about. Thomas Sutherland and
Terry Waite were released last week by Muslim Shiite kidnap
pers after spending 10 percent of their lives as hostages. There
is increasing hope that the dismal decade of hostage-taking will
SOOn be Over. — The Daily lllini
University of Illinois
Running opinion ad could start propaganda
The staff members of The Daily Texan and Texas Student
Publications board are debating whether to run a full
page opinion advertisement. The writer, Bradley Smith,
challenges the accepted historical fact of the genocidal policy
of Hitler’s Germany and argues that the Nazis did not try to
systematically extinguish the Jewish race.
If The Texan runs the advertisement, we will offend many
people and propagate assertions that recklessly disregard gener
ally accepted fact. This will inevitably raise doubt in the minds
of some as to the validity of the historical account of the Holo
caust — those who have not been exposed to the testimonies of
its survivors or the written documents of its perpetrators.
Spreading these anti-Semitic, revisionist ideas seems likely to
be the surest way to do what (George) Santayana warned
against: to repeat the errors of history. — The Daily Texan
Uni versity of Texas
Editor’s note: A letter in Wednes
day’s Daily Nebraskan about the
UNL women’s swim team was sub
mitted by the entire Women’s Re
source Center collective. Only the
signature of Tamika Simmons, vol
unteer coordinator, appeared with
the letter. The Daily Nebraskan
regrets the misunderstanding.
PAUL DOME1ER
U.S. forgetting lesson of attack
Saturday is the 50th anniversary
of the day the United States
woke up. After a century and a
half watching European power spread,
the United States found out with Ja
pan’s attack on Pearl Harbor that
America, too, was being watched.
The Manifest Destiny of the 19lh
century and Teddy Roosevelt’s tum
of-thc-century imperialism gave the
United States momentum that couldn’t
be stopped. Thecountry had too much
bulk, too many resources, too long a
reach to avoid world affairs.
But Americans tried. After limited
involvement in World War I, the nation
retreated into isolation.
We pretended that we were all
alone, though our Great Depression
dragged most of the world economy
down, too. When World War II came
around, the national conscience
demanded we sell the Allies some
destroyers cheap and start the Lend
Lease program.
We imposed economic sanctions
against Japan. The Japanese knew
our sanctions were enough to cripple
their expansion plans and maybe Japan
itself.
On Dec. 7, 1941, the bombing of
Pearl Harbor proved our importance.
No retreat was possible after World
War II. Instead we had the hydrogen
bomb, the Marshall Plan, NATO and
Korea. Regardless of our wishes and
intentions, from Pearl Harbor on we
knew we had to be the world leader.
The Soviet Union was No. 2. All
of our efforts were designed to stave
off communism.
With the recent Soviet collapse,
we have won that battle, which could
lead to a new problem. We’rc in danger
of ignoring the lesson of Pearl Har
bor. We forget that we’re still being
watched.
With the Soviet threat ended, we
say, we can resume our preferred role
as first among equals. With Pearl
Harbor our enemies said that role was
not an option. It’s not an option now,
either.
With external success and internal
problems, we’re experiencing a re
surgence in America First. Accord
ing to this motto, all of our resources
should be turned inward to solve our
problems. Columnist Pat Buchanan,
if he runs for president, will get a lot
of votes. He makes America First
sound wonderful.
But if we insist on America First, it
must be America Only. We can’t look
at other countries and complain about
civil rights violations, or unfair trade,
We won’t abdicate
our role as a moral.
ideoloeical and eco
nomic leader^ so we
can’t abdicate our
ro/e as g military
leader.
or external aggression. The United
Stales must become a Switzerland of
250 million people.
Buchanan wouldn’t mind that. Most
Americans would. Unlike Buchanan,
they think the national conscience
should be used to determine foreign
policy.
When it comes right down to it,
most of us want to be the leaders of
the free world and influence other
nations to stay fairly civilized. That’s
why the gulf war was so popular.
Americans want it both ways, on
our terms. When we want to interfere
we will, but don’t hold it against us,
and don’t expect anything from us.
Now domestic programs arc popu
lar. That means cuts in military spend
ing.
Certainly cuts are needed. The
limited mobilization for the Persian
Gulf war was frightfully easy and
used none of the billions of dollars
spent on nuclear weapons since 1945,
Over and over we’ve heard that the
United States can destroy the world
countless limes with nuclear weap
ons.
We don’t need that much quantity
in cither conventional or nuclear
capabilities.
But we must have the quality. In
our rush to cut the defense budget,
we’re in danger of going too far.
So what if the Soviet Union col
lapsed from within? The United States
was an imposing presence. The Sovi
ets couldn t have won a desperation
war, so it wasn’t worth their effort.
The Chinese couldn’t win a war
with us now. Another 10 years and
they might be able to.
Another 10 years, and the border
line-fascist state in Japan mighi be
able to.
And the next Pearl Harbor won’t
kill 2,400 people, it will kill
240,000,000 people.
Future enemies won’t be able to
ignore us if we stay strong militarily.
The technology is vital. The fa
mous B-17 bomber from World War
II was first flown in July 1935, when
the most obvious threat was the
American economy. The B-29, the
state-of- the- art plane that dropped the
atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, was ordered in February
1940, almost two years before Pearl
Harbor.
Even while pretending that no one
was watching, we were preparing for
future conflicts. Had we wailed to
develop new technology, World War
II would have taken years longer and
cost millions more lives.
If we wait before the next war, the
United Slates will lose.
We must keep developing supe
rior weapons systems. Maybe not the
B-2, but then some other difficult-to
dctect bomber. Maybe not the Strate
gic Defense Initiative, but then some
other defense against nuclear attack.
Flaws in individual systems mean
the systems should be fixed or changed,
not abandoned.
President Bush will repeat these
points tonight on ABC in a Pearl
Harbor special. Parts of Bush’s inter
view with David Brinkley were ex
cerpted Sunday on “This Week with
David Brinkley.”
In the interview, Bush says that
from Pearl Harbor we learned not to
neglect foreign affairs. We must be
active diplomatically. Defensively, he
says, be prepared, more vigilant and
less protectionist.
As Brinkley points out, Bush proba
bly will be the last president to have
served in World War II. That mean'
Bush can’t help but remember the
lesson of Pearl Harbor. It doesn’t mean
future leaders have to forget.
We won’t abdicate our role as a
moral, ideological and economic
leader, so we can’t abdicate our role
as a military leader. .r
We might not be able to recover i
we are ever reminded again, Peart
Harbor-style, that we are being
watched.
Domeier is a senior news-editorial
the Daily Nebraskan copy da* chier ano
columnist
