JKRi:\n Fitzpatrick
Hillary should reduce her role
Ilike Hillary Clinton.
I admire the policies she
fights for. Her work for the
rights of children and for providing
health care to all Americans is both
intelligent and compassionate.
She strikes me as someone who
cares what happens to Americans and
who wants this country to do well.
But I think it is time for the first
lady to step away from the official
policy-making role she has played in
the Clinton White House.
Unlike any presidential spouse in
history, Hillary Clinton has helped
make decisions in the White House. In
a very real sense, it is hard to deter
mine where Hillary ends and Bill be
gins.
Up until the recent Whitewater
scandal, I thought there was nothing
wrong with that. Why shouldn’t the
spouse of the president — the person
closest to her or him — play a major
role in the White House?
But Whitewater has changed my
thinking.
Hillary Clinton’s name continual
ly comes up in the theories that are
circulating about the Clintons’
Whitewater land investment in Ar
kansas. According to this week’s is
sue of Time magazine, Hillary han
dled the failed investment, represent
ed clients in front a regulator her
ed clients in front a regulator her
husband appointed, had White House
counsels Vincent Foster and then Ber
nard Nussbaum as personal lawyers,
and fought the appointment of a spe
cial prosecutor.
quick to rush to judgment and place
Hillary Clinton as a major figure in
this scandal. At this point it is not
clear if cither of the Clintons did
anything wrong. And if there was any
wrongdoing, it is not clear who is
responsible for it.
But the fact remains that a cloud
hangs over the White House, and
Hillary Clinton is part of that cloud.
All legislative action by the adminis
tration has slowly ground to a halt.
But Hillary Clinton cannot be
removed from her position. She
is the president’s wife. She
cannot be forced out or asked
to leave.
and it will not resume until Whitewater
is resolved.
The fact that Hillary Clinton is not
an elected official further complicates
matters.
For example, Bernard Nussbaum
is another figure that has been in
volved in the controversy over
Whitewater. Nussbaum, the White
House counsel, was involved in brief
ings from Treasury Department offi
cials who were investigating a savings
and loan involved in Whitewater. After
heavy criticism of the briefings,
Nussbaum resigned.
Although he isprobablyguilty only
ofexercising bad judgment, Nussbaum
quit because he was becoming a center
of controversy in the Clinton White
House. The government and the needs
of the United States are bigger than
Nussbaum, so he stepped out of the
way so the country could move for
ward.
What would happen if Hillary
Clinton became a roadblock to all of
Clinton’s legislative programs? Idon’t
think that will happen, but it could.
On Whitewater or any issue.
President Clinton has all but tied
the central element of his presidency
—healthcare—to his wife. She is the
administration’s central spokeswom
an for the plan. She has traveled around
the country campaigning for reform.
If anyone else was in charge of
health-care reform and that person
became the center of controversy, she
or he could be removed, and health
care would survi ve. One person’s place
in the White House would be sacri
ficed for the well-being of the country.
But Hillary Clinton cannot be re
moved from her position. She is the
president’s wife. She cannot be forced
out or asked to leave.
If any kind of controversy did cen
ter on her, then the president’s chance
of pushing his version of health-care
reform through Congress would be
greatly reduced. The country would
suffer the consequences.
No one has proven that Bill or
Hillary Clinton have done anything
wrong. Despite the media attention to
the scandal in recent weeks, no evi
dence has surfaced connecting them
to illegal activities.
But Hillary Clinton’s role in this
scandal has made clear the problems
of having the president’s spouse in
volved in a major policy-making role.
Hillary Clinton is not an elected
official. She is not accountable to the
voters.
She is also not really an appointed
official. She is the president’s wife,
and she cannot simply be removed
from her position.
H ill ary Cl in ton is a talented person
who cares about the United States. But
for the sake of the accountability of
government and the well-being of the
country, her policy-making role in the
White House should be reduced.
Fitzpatrick is a senior political science
major and the editor of the Daily Nebraskan.
E. IK (.HI S SHANKS
Restroom is homophobia home
One morning last week as I
passed through the Nebras
ka Union, I slopped to use
the men’s room. 1 had just heard that
AIDS can have an 11 -year incubation
period, and 1 was somewhat troubled.
As I noticed the usual piles of fresh,
crisp USA TODAYS on the floor be
neath the toilet stools, I thought, 11
years? Gee/.... what happened to sev
en years?
I started counting back to 1983.
That year, there were only seven or
eight confirmed cases of the human
immunodeficiency virus and, if my
memory serves me well, one death
from AIDS in the entire state.
I figured I was in the clear.
Then 1 thought, wait a minute,
what if they change the incubation
period again? I started counting back
again ... As I zipped up, I noticed a
stranger two urinals down was stand
ing about two feet back from his stall.
I considered this to be a gross violation
of men’s room etiquette.
I mean, hey. I ain’t no homophobe,
but that’s an open invitation.
You may wonder what HIV, AIDS
and homophobia have to do with my
experience in the men’s room. It sim
ply reminded me that homophobia
isn’t just gay-bashing or calling peo
ple derogatory names. There are more
subtle kinds of homophobia that we
practice without even realizing it.
There are four main rules for the
men’s room: Don’t talk to anyone you
don’t know. Don’t look at anyone.
Don’t touch anyone. And above all,
don ’ t let anyone see any th ing of yours.
1 was still counting back past the
11-year incubation period. I thought,
I’ll never again pick up a USA TO
DAY from the men’s room floor. But
I ain’t no homophobe. I just want lobe
more careful.
I’m not stupid enough to think
reading a newspaper from the bath
room floor would infect me with HIV.
And I thank the generous persons who
over the years left me their USA
TODAYS. However, the thought of
yet another extension of the incuba
tion period of AIDS should make us
There are four main rules for
the men’s room: Don’t talk to
anyone you don’t know. Don’t
look at anyone. Don’t touch
anyone. And above all, don’t let
anyone see anything of yours.
all be more careful.
I was raised by two feminists, my
mother and my father. Luckily, I didn’t
grow up with the message that homo
sexuality was wrong. My father never
spoke ill of anyone. I think he thought
homosexuality was strange, but he
never put anyone down. I didn’t learn
to be homophobic at home.
While stationed in Norfolk, Va., in
1977,1 frequented several bars. 1 nev
er scored. 1 didn’t realize then what a
blessing that would be. I came close to
scoring once while at the Jolly Roger
Bar. But my new friend turned out to
be a man.
We had left the bar and were cruis
ing the coast. In a flash of an instant I
noticed a five o’clock shadow on my
companion. I thought, “Good Lord, I
gotta get out of here.”
I didn’t want to embarrass my new
friend. 1 actually thought that “he”
may have thought I thought he was a
man all along. It at no point occurred
to me to say, “Er, excuse me, why, I
thought you were a woman. Since
you’re not, please take me back to my
barracks.” I just couldn’t talk about it.
Part of me believed he had misled me
and had somehow wronged me. Now,
I see how silly that was.
Was this homophobia? Then, no.
In retrospect, it was.
Unfortunately, the story doesn’t
end here. I was still faced with solving
the problem of how to get away with
out dealing with the issue. Without
any embarrassing confrontations.
My solution was to return to the
base under the guise of needing to get
some money. After that, I went to a
phone, telephoned the base police and
explained to them that I had been
picked up by a man posing as a woman
and asked them to escort him off the
base.
The police were understanding. 1
fully expected them to sympathize
with me. At the time it seemed reason
able that they too would feel he was in
the wrong.
1 wasn’t a homophobe without a
conscience. I called back and asked
what happened. The police assured
me they had politely escorted him off
the base.
Five years later I moved to Hous
ton. I worked with several gay men.
Determined not to succumb to
homophobic tendencies, 1 accepted
their invitations to go out after work.
I was proud to have been accepted. We
developed genuine long-lasting friend
ships.
We frequented the Montrose sec
tion of town, a widely known hub of
the gay community. One evening we
were at Mary's, probably the single
most notorious gay bar in the country.
As we watched the evening network
news, the Nebraska Legislature, which
had just voted down some gay rights
legislation, was on the screen. As fate
have it, I was wearing a red Nebraska
sweatshirt.
Suddenly, all eves were on me. I
rose up from my bar stool and pro
claimed, “I may be from there, but I
ain’t no homophobe.”
Shuki ii i graduate itudeat ud a Daily
Ncbraikaa coluaaaiit.
i Find
W >iour
j\ place
at the DN
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