There's a Kind of Hush in DC: America's Business Resumes

The minutes ticked by last Saturday morning like a newsreel from the 1940s: Bill Clinton had orchestrated his final hours as president so that he'd hog 90 percent of an enabling media's attention. There were time-killing weather reports on tv?as if the rain in Washington, DC, were going to stop?but most of the action centered on Clinton's last-minute plea-bargain with Robert Ray, the bizarre list of men and women he pardoned and the record number of "farewell" speeches he'd deliver to anyone still listening. This wasn't the standard Inauguration Day protocol, but it was hardly a surprise. No one, except perhaps the repulsive Alan Dershowitz, has ever accused the 42nd President of being a classy kind of guy.

Flipping channels between Fox, MSNBC and CNN (I'd rather my sons watch guttermouth rappers than the political pornography blasted onto the screen by creeps like Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw), it was one faceless anchor after pundit after politician commenting on Clinton's staged frenzy of activity. He'll never go away! This man with the voracious appetite for politics is the incoming shadow president! Goodbye and Hello to the Comeback Kid! The opinion was unanimous: How could an inexperienced and tongue-tied governor from Texas ever compete with this larger-than-life dynamo? This was a man, despite a few personal foibles, who defined an entire decade, and rescued his party from forever wallowing in Dukakis-ville!

It was rough sledding, all this chitchat about that lovable rascal Clinton, the ludicrous praise heaped upon an unscrupulous man who makes a pop-culture speck like Eminem seem quaint in comparison. With all the baloney from Al Gore and Joe Lieberman last fall about cleaning up the "filth" in Hollywood, while they stuffed their pockets with checks from those responsible for it, it was lamentable that the GOP couldn't strategically carpet-bomb battleground states with tv advertising spots that pinpointed the lies, finger-wagging and obfuscation of the Clinton administration. George W. Bush's commercials were gauzy and flat. Because of Clinton's good job-approval ratings, the high-voltage footage?like Al Gore praising his boss on Impeachment Day at the '98 Rose Garden pep rally?was off-limits.

A relatively small number of protesters lined the streets of Washington, but aside from a few tomatoes thrown at Bush's limo, this crew was fairly lethargic. After all, it was windy and cold, and the morning cartoons were still on. The New York Times' David Rosenbaum tried to mold an article out of the dissent, but there was little to work with. It's not as if the Vietnam War, which inflamed the boomer generation, both out of sincere idealism and an instinct for self-preservation, were around now to provide an impetus for a pampered contemporary group of protesters who?whether white, yellow, black or blue?have adopted "Disenfranchised" as their middle names. Rosenbaum delivered a wan report for last Sunday's paper: "Many complained about the ballot procedures and Supreme Court ruling that led to George W. Bush's becoming president. Others demonstrated over global trade, civil rights, abortion, capital punishment, rain forests and corporate power."

The usual lazy Susan of complaints. My favorite passage of the Times reporter's pro forma dispatch was the following: "'It's sort of an inchoate feeling,' said Anna Galland, a 21-year-old college student from Evanston, Ill., who was carrying several different placards this morning and had not decided which one to raise during the inauguration parade." Congratulations, Miss Galland. "Inchoate" is a fancy word. I wonder if you know which generals were present at Appomattox? Whoops, send MUGGER to the showers for alluding to the Land of Dixie! Now I'll never get dinner invites from Sens. Patrick Leahy and Richard Durbin.

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But then noon arrived last Saturday, and I swear the howls from Barbra Streisand, Geraldo Rivera, Paul Begala, Tina Brown and Katie Couric could be heard from coast to coast. When President Bush took the oath of office, his proud family providing a Norman Rockwell tableau on the podium, all at once Clinton's visage grew dimmer and dimmer. Snotty journalists made great sport of the fact that both GWB and GHWB shed a tear or two, as if that were a fatal indication of weakness. Screw 'em. No one in the extended Bush clan will admit it, but part of the reason George W. ran for president was to avenge his father's loss to an inferior man from Arkansas. That he accomplished that long-odds feat, while pelted with unimaginable ridicule, is testament to his determination and singlemindedness, an estimable trait for a chief executive. I'm certain it was the happiest day of former President Bush's life?not to mention his wife Barbara's?witnessing the swearing-in of his oldest son as the new president. I don't care at all for the politics of the arrogant Kennedy family, but their devotion to each other, like the Bush family's, is a glorious trait.

Maybe it was the weather in Washington, but as the cameras panned to the outgoing President, he looked gray and white?not unlike third-day snow on the ground?as if he'd aged 10 years in just five minutes. And when Bush gave his inaugural address, Clinton looked pained. Because what the 43rd President said for posterity was that his administration would stand for dignity and character, two words that have been erased from the Oval Office dictionary these past eight years.

Suddenly, the political focus of the United States was clear. I don't like to indulge in cornpone, but as Bush spoke, it was like when The Wizard of Oz turned from black and white to color. Bush's brief but sharp description of his administration's goals was as clear a declaration of intent as has been heard since Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency 20 years ago.

He said: "Today we affirm a new commitment to live out our nation's promise through civility, courage, compassion and character... Together, we will reclaim America's schools before ignorance and apathy claim more young lives. We will reform Social Security and Medicare, sparing our children from struggles we have the power to prevent. And we will reduce taxes to recover the momentum of our economy and reward the effort and enterprise of working Americans. We will build our defenses beyond challenge, lest weakness invite challenge. We will confront weapons of mass destruction, so that a new century is spared new horrors."

There it was. The essence of Bush's campaign, presented not in a verbose laundry list, but in several simple sentences. It doesn't take a political scholar to interpret his goals: school vouchers, privatization of inefficient government programs and institutions (how about the U.S. Postal Service?), equitable tax reform, the welcoming of immigrants and a refurbished, reinvigorated military. It remains to be seen how much of this agenda Bush can accomplish?any number of failures will certainly make him a one-term president?but he can't be accused of espousing mushy, feel-good ambitions.

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Clinton was shameless even after he'd given up the White House keys. At another farewell, this one staged at Andrews Air Force Base, the nation's number-one narcissist told supporters: "You see that sign there that says please don't go? I left the White House, but I'm still here! I wish you well. You gave me the ride of my life, and I probably gave as good as I got." Once again: me, myself and I.

I have no beef with Clinton pardoning his half-brother Roger, who traded on the President's status in a skeezy but sometimes entertaining way, not unlike the late Billy Carter. And the inclusion of Patty Hearst on the list was long overdue. Webb Hubbell must be muttering about not making the cut, while Susan McDougal got her reward. Them's the breaks, Webb. Besides, you probably never flashed a little ankle to the King of Dogpatch.

But the most inexcusable recipient of Clinton's hodgepodge government-sanctioned generosity was fugitive Marc Rich, the 66-year-old commodities trader who's still on the lam in Switzerland after his indictment for tax evasion, racketeering, fraud and suspect oil deals with Iran. A story in Sunday's New York Post noted that Rich, as of Saturday night, was still listed as an "international fugitive" on the Justice Dept.'s website, along with partner Pinky Green, who was also given a pass by Clinton.

Crooks living abroad, who haven't demonstrated any contrition, aren't usually treated by U.S. presidents in such a cordial manner. But then, Rich, whose ex-wife Denise has raised large amounts of cash (the Washington Times reported nearly $1.3 million) for the Democratic Party, isn't just a run-of-the-mill criminal. It's not hard to connect the dots: for all the public knows, Marc and Denise Rich, although divorced, may have a businesslike relationship not unlike the Clintons'. And so, since we know that Clinton was indiscriminate about where his campaign funds came from, it's not a stretch to believe that Rich dug deep into that Swiss bank account to make sure Bob Dole was rubbed out early in the '96 election. I can envision a Marc Rich wing of the Clinton Presidential Library?how about you?

On Sunday, kibitzing with reporters at a Chappaqua deli, Clinton defended his pardons, saying, "You're not saying these people didn't commit the offense. You're saying they paid. They paid in full and they've been out enough after their sentence to show they're good citizens, so they ought to have a chance to get full citizenship."

Rich didn't "pay" a debt to society in the usual sense, and he never served a jail sentence. But there were, typically, extenuating circumstances. Does it surprise anyone that Rich's attorney, Jack Quinn, who served in the Clinton administration, lobbied successfully for the pardon?

The New York Times?surprise?didn't make much of this eye-popping pardon, burying Rich's name deep into its story about the 140 people who received pardons. However, the paper did devote a separate story to Michael Milken, the unfairly maligned financier-turned-philanthropist (after a detour in the pokey), who wasn't let off the hook in Clinton's last hours as president. As I wrote recently, Milken didn't need to dirty himself by accepting a gift from a lesser man like Clinton. As it turned out, he was quoted in the Times as saying, "Back in '93, I was given a year to live [he'd been diagnosed with prostate cancer], so in that context, it's hard to be disappointed about this."

Clinton might've skated on his own obstruction of justice charges?and maybe he'll never be held accountable for the crimes he committed while president?but investigative reporters will be busy for years piecing together the corruption, financial and political, that will ultimately define his two terms in office.

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It's to Bush's continued advantage that Democrats are still squawking over the election results. On Jan. 21, the Times persisted in this futile tactic, allying themselves with the wealthy white management of The Nation; certifiable congressional crazies like Maxine Waters and Robert Wexler; Al Sharpton; and The New Republic's owner Marty Peretz. Elizabeth Becker wrote in her inaugural story for the Times: "By tradition, the first person George W. Bush thanked after becoming president was Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, the man who had just sworn him in. But barely six weeks after the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision to end further counting of Florida's disputed presidential votes, the new president was also thanking the man who had effectively handed him the election."

I hope this nonsense distracts Bush's enemies for months and months to come. But it's not likely, as the new administration starts work. It wasn't reported widely in the media, but the first results of the gratuitous recounting of those ballots by news organizations?an extravagant waste of manpower and money?showed that Bush had actually gained six votes in Miami-Dade County, a Democratic stronghold where Gore's supporters suspected he'd gain substantially had the Supreme Court not correctly put an end to that farce. On Jan. 17, The Washington Post, carrying a brief Associated Press report, printed those findings, which were the result of an investigation conducted by the Palm Beach Post. In addition, on Jan. 20, the Naples Daily News, after its own review of ballots, reported that in Collier County, a Republican bastion, Bush would've gained another 226 votes.

The Democrats have a peculiar way of looking at politics. Must be that entitlement gene in their intellectually malnourished bodies, or a strain of Mad Cow disease that only affects Americans who still believe in quotas, Camelot, random redistribution of wealth and Ms.-era feminism (unless it applies to someone like Kathleen Willey or Juanita Broaddrick).

Fox News anchor Brit Hume conducted a short interview with Bush on Jan. 18, while the John Ashcroft hearings were still in session. GWB addressed the absurd idea that his administration should be a coalition of Republicans and Democrats.

Hume: "Now, there's a belief among many Democrats that your election was not legitimate, that you are a selected, not an elected president. And therefore you are not entitled to appoint nominees of such strong views as Gale Norton and John Ashcroft. How do you react to that argument?"

Bush: "Too bad. I am going to. Here's how I react to the argument. First of all, every time they recounted, I won. It's just when they started to revote that I got a little nervous. And, secondly, the reason I sit here able to talk to you as the person soon to be sworn in as the president is because of the positions I took in the campaign.

"I was running against?basically running against an incumbent?had a pretty good economy going for him, the world was kind of at peace. And I wish I could, you know, say it was my charming personality or the ability to string a couple of sentences together. The truth of the matter is, I am sitting here because I took firm positions on important issues and didn't back off. And I'm not backing off the minute I arrive in Washington."

I understand what Bush is saying: he won the election, and is entitled to govern in the same way as if he'd defeated Gore by a landslide. Think about it. The '86 World Series was a cliffhanger, but in the end the New York Mets defeated the Boston Red Sox in seven hard-fought games. When the championship rings were handed out, were they divided on a proportional basis to both teams? Of course not.

But the girls just don't understand. Consider these remarks in the current Newsweek by Jonathan Alter, currently the top contender for the coveted position of Sid Blumenthal's understudy. Alter's Jan. 29 "Between the Lines" column is ludicrous from start to finish?it suggests that the Democrats are rolling over for Ashcroft?but it's this paragraph, propaganda badly disguised as journalism, that makes me want to throw someone like Frank Rich out the window. (Although that would be a hate crime.)

Alter: "Under normal circumstances, a president is entitled to appoint almost anyone he wants, fulfilling his mandate?The new president has no mandate?and is therefore duty-bound to avoid extremist candidates like Ashcroft... The disputed [election] results may not restrict Bush's legitimacy but they should certainly restrict his leeway, all the GOP efforts to forget November notwithstanding."

Pardon me, Jon, but Clinton had no mandate in 1992, winning just 43 percent of the vote in a three-man race. Yet look at the Cabinet the new President chose. They were all pro-choice men and women, for starters. The Cabinet included Janet Reno, who won confirmation by a 98-0 tally; Robert Reich, an honorary Socialist, who was ratified by a similarly lopsided margin; and Warren Christopher, a hack who was tapped, I believe, as a "gravitas" counterweight to the disorganized bunch of pizza-munching, rap-session kids who were rewarded with White House jobs for their work in Clinton's War Room.

It's strange how the hard right and hard left have interpreted the Ashcroft hearings. On the one hand, there's Alter, criticizing Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold for holding his fire. But on the other, conservatives at National Review and columnist Robert Novak have complained that the former Missouri Senator has softened his views on abortion. Novak even barked that Laura Bush, when interviewed by some airhead morning show host, said that Roe v. Wade shouldn't be overturned, as if she doesn't have the right to an opinion.

The conservative press ought to lighten up. Contrary to Alter's I'm-on-Mars view, Ashcroft has been the victim of a left-wing smear almost as vicious as those waged against Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork. Remember, Ashcroft's immediate goal is to become attorney general; and besides, he is required to enforce the country's current laws, regardless of his personal beliefs.

When Ronnie White, the black Missouri judge whose nomination to the federal bench was defeated by the Senate?the fight against him was led by Ashcroft?testified at the end of last week, he was used as an Amos 'n Andy stick figure by liberals eager to advance their own agendas. Possible 2004 presidential candidates like Joe Biden, Evan Bayh and John Kerry have to prove their bona fides to the cash-rich special-interest groups that make up the Democratic Party's base; has-beens such as Teddy Kennedy like to grandstand just for the hell of it. Kennedy, who was virtually silent on the Thomas nomination in '91?understandably, given that his own sexual harassments (and worse) of women were infinitely more grotesque than the mild allegations raised by Anita Hill?probably felt he had some catching up to do.

So he made this astonishing statement, directed at Judge White, on Jan 18: "What happened to you is the ugliest thing that's happened to any nominee in all my years in the United States Senate." Even from a cue-card-reading fool like Kennedy, that's over the top, considering that his deplorable '87 depiction of Bork as a 16th-century backwoods butcher led to the latter's defeat, and thus robbed the U.S. Supreme Court of a potentially great justice.

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As for Jesse Jackson, why won't one of his colleagues summon the courage to insist that the divisive Rainbow/PUSH Coalition leader retire? The man is clearly out of his mind, seeing Nazis and Ku Klux Klan kooks on every corner, zigzagging between the downtrodden in Appalachia and Wall Street boardrooms, invoking "Selma" whenever a black person is given a speeding ticket. I have no interest in Jackson's personal life?that's a family matter?but his showboat theatrics today are more suited to Politically Incorrect than to his alleged goal of achieving social justice.

It was disheartening that just days after Jackson said he'd go underground after the revelation that he'd fathered a child in an adulterous affair, he was back in the public spotlight again. "The ground is no place for a champion," Jackson told the Associated Press last Saturday. "The ground is no place that I will wallow on."

Ward Connerly, the black University of California regent who's an opponent of racial preferences, was correct when he told a Washington Times reporter last week that "This preoccupation with the past and looking through the rearview mirror at America's history is preventing many black people from enjoying the present... Unfortunately, people like Jesse Jackson and others don't want blacks to enjoy life in America. They want them to feel miserable."

Jackson's domestic life is probably pretty miserable right now, but he's certainly not hurting for money. Where that lucre comes from is anybody's guess, but it smells like a raw chicken left out in the sun for two days. You'd have thought the former presidential candidate could've used his vast influence among blacks to lift them out of poverty and move them away from union-dominated school systems, instead of merely spouting slogans and counseling President Clinton in his hours of despair.

Jackson blew it. It's time for a younger and more intelligent leader to replace America's Fidel Castro.

JANUARY 22

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