COLUMN: Dole may have character, but that's all he has to offer voters
BETWEEN NOW
and the November elections I guess that I am going to hear
enough about President Clinton's lack of character and Bob Dole's abundance of
it to make me sick. This continual focus on character was epitomized by Allen
Lewis' column for the Rice Republicans in last week's
Thresher
. There
are a number of dangerous problems with this reliance on character, both of
which are exemplified by Lewis' column.
Lewis seems to have a difficult time deciding why people could possibly think that a man of lower character could make a better president. The reason seems pretty simple: They are more concerned with their well-being than the president'sl life.
It's hard for me to imagine that Lewis would elect a person who had no ideas for the future, simply because he or she measures higher against this mythical character standard.
However, that's exactly what Lewis seems to claim. Here is a man who for the majority of his acceptance speech harkened back to wars that are over and ideas that have been shown to be disastrous.
For instance, his only major proposal so far is to reduce taxes by 15 percent, while spending billions on a missile defense system to protect us from who knows what. If that's Bob Dole's vision, I can do without.
I suggest that perhaps we should not only look at a person's character in his personal life but also in his legislation and political ideals. Clearly, President Clinton, despite his sometimes-wavering ideals, has stood for more humane and virtuous goals than Dole.
Bob Dole is so full of character that he defends tobacco companies, saying that for some people, even milk can be bad. That shows real compassion and concern for the kids of this country who are being suckered into a deadly addiction.
Though I don't necessarily agree with everything Clinton does, I am confident in saying his policies seem to be on a much higher scale of character than Bob Dole's.
The common perception that Dole is of much higher character than Clinton also serves to insulate Dole from much investigation into his background. I don't want to judge Dole for divorcing his wife of 23 years, but why is it that this fact is often glossed over when Dole's terrific character is mentioned? Routinely overlooked in the character debate is that Clinton is still married to his first wife.
By trumpeting his character, Dole has remained largely immune from investigations regarding his wife.The mainstream press, however, ignores how Elizabeth Dole has used her position as president of the American Red Cross to push her husband's election. Not only that, but if elected, Bob Dole will get to appoint a Secretary of Health and Human Services who will oversee the Red Cross' blood collection efforts. Hmm, husband appointing his wife's supervisor. If that doesn't smack of conflict of interest, I don't know what does.
Luckily, it seems that voters know enough to recognize that the prime purpose of a president is not as a moral figurehead, as Lewis suggests, but rather as a person to set policy goals and try to lead this country into the next century. Voters also seem to recognize that Clinton has the better vision for the United States than Bob Dole.
This item appeared in the Opinion section of the September 27, 1996 issue.
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