4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 29, 2002 OP/ED a ilbe lflkbig-uu 34tci 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS.AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 JON SCHWARTZ Editor in Chief JOHANNA HANINK Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. NOTABLE QUOTABLE This is one of the most unconscionable stories I've ever seen in my years in public life... How could CNN just tell the world how our troops now need a rest ...?" -An anonymous White House staffmember in response to a CNN report declaring the U.S. military "unprepared "for another Afghan offensive, as quoted yesterday in the Drudge Report. uc .as e ' THOMvAS KuLJURGIS ' AI 'IV *I,,Y'SPLA KlN£. 3"Zq-o2 . ' -... .. e ° L -f- , 1,, The Clinton era revisited BABAWOLE AKIN AINA STRANGER IN THE CORNER The year 1999 seems a world away. When I first arrived in the U.S. as a freshman, it was at the height of the economic boom. You heard stories of EECS majors dropping out of school, getting that "one" idea and being showered with millions of dollars in venture capital and stock options. H-1B visas were touted as the new face of American immigra- tion, allowing an influx of talented and skilled individuals to further help fuel the new economy, without discriminating according to country of origin. Everybody and their mother, it seemed, owned stock and the Dow and the NASDAQ kept on defying the laws of gravity. It was a time of prosperity, when any- thing seemed possible if you had the guts, the brains and the will. No one seemed to embody this era more than William Jeffer- son Clinton. President Clinton, in my mind, was living proof of how far the U.S. had come. I have always been fascinated with the story of how a poor but very bright Arkansas boy, only slightly above the white trash scale in the eyes of his detractors, beat poverty, social prejudices and a difficult childhood to become President of the Unit- ed States and the greatest American politi- cian of his generation. For a young freshman with outsized ambitions, "Slick Willie" was most definitely a source of inspiration. I had no connections here; no large trust fund to draw on; my par- ents, my home and my connections are 5,000 miles away. All that I and many others ever have are our intellects and a voracious appetite for success. I am still not entirely sure if those are enough, but they certainly worked wonders for Mr. Clinton. He went from Arkansas on academic and music schol- arships to Georgetown University, left Georgetown as a Rhodes scholar and went on to Yale University for a Law degree. A few years later, he was to be elected governor of the State of Arkansas at age 32, the youngest Governor ever. Fourteen years later, in 1992, he was elected the 43rd president of the Unit- ed States and at age 46, one of the youngest presidents in history. The man was simply quite amazing at what he did. He did not mangle words, could tango with the best of them intellectually and politically and was incredibly charming. He brought a pragmatism that had been aban- doned by the left and showed that market economics could coexist with government activism. His administration displayed both concern for the environment and a ruthless focus on the economy, with enviable results on both counts. Perhaps the best thing about the Clinton years were the fact that they symbolized opportunity, for whomever, whether in the form of affirmative action for young Blacks and Hispanics, increased immigration oppor- tunities for skilled workers, freer trade the world over or a much more liberal social cli- mate. However, in retrospect, what less could one expect from a man who had grown up poor in the South? The poor in America are a minority of some sorts. It is also an economic fact that opportunity cures poverty. Now two years onwards, much has changed - and I am not referring to changes wrought by Sept. 11 and the subse- quent war on terrorism. Even before then, it seemed that the idea of meritocracy had jumped ship. A gentleman's C average, it seems, is good enough for both Harvard Business School and the White House, when one is accompanied by the proper last name. Religion is once again being pushed down the throats of the unwilling with con- servatives up in arms when the Secretary of State makes a common sense statement regarding contraception on television. Affir- mative action is on the ropes and tellingly, those who oppose it are not proposing viable alternatives to fix educational dispar- ities, they just want to kill it and be done with it. Economic protectionism has once again become a tool to gain votes at the expense of both economic welfare and ideo- logical integrity. All is not lost however. American society is different because of the change caused by the Clinton years, despite the mudslinging, misguided and malicious attacks that his opponents resorted to towards the end. The country is not as puritanical as Republicans would have you believe. Nor will the reces- sion of the past year erase the economic gains of the Clinton era, which resulted in the largest creation of wealth in history, across all social classes. Government still matters, no matter what conservatives scream, and it has a responsibility to provide opportunities to all members of society. Most of all, while the idea of the American meritocracy has been watered down, it still exists and is wait- ing to be proven by the next slick kid with a quick brain and a large dream., Babawole Akin Aina can be reached at babawole@umich.edu. 0 0 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 0 Tuesday's e-mail from the University's leadership slandered reasoned dissent' To THE DAILY: On Tuesday, I received the campus-wide email from Interim University President B. Joseph White and Vice President for Student Affairs E. Royster Harper. Having read the e- mail, I was taken aback by the subtle character assassination campaign that the University's leadership has so readily embraced. The e-mail attempted to tie the latest string of hate messages on campus to comments made by Regent Dan Horning regarding his disagree- ment over the University's affirmative action policies. Although the link is subtle, it makes a powerful statement that all who stand against the University's race preferences are truly racist - and this is simply not true. Indeed, many oppose the policy because it serves to perpetuate animosity between the races. The glaring contradiction of White and Harper's message is that they wish to foster a diverse community yet hope to silence even those reasoned and non-hateful voices that are set against affirmative action and attempt to link rational dissent with hateful vitriol. The response by the University's leadership does exactly the opposite of its stated intent: Instead of accomplishing "diversity," it serves to alienate and slander diverse viewpoints. It is a sad day at the University when Regent Larry Deitch can on the one hand characterize Regent Horning's "diverse" opinion as "unfor- tunate" yet claim to stand for true diversity of thought. In what way can a University that is renowned for fostering radical opinion claim that any one opinion is "unfortunate" and even go so far as to call it evil by association with the latest string of hateful campus chalkings and messages in the residence halls? Perhaps some- day the University will awake from these con- tradictions and consider that diversity is something broader than skin color and that its commitment to learning will be best served when it does not slander reasoned dissent. BRAD SPRECHER Second year pharmacy student Markley Multicultural Affairs Council racist, un-American TO THE DAILY: On Wednesday night, I was invited to speak to the Executive Board of the Markley Multicul- tural Affairs Council on my proposal to rename the Angela Davis lounge. I came to discuss Angela Davis but, throughout the meeting, I had to defend the United States and the Bill of Rights. For two hours, I and another Markley resi- dent were verbally lynched for supporting the Constitution. Repeatedly, MMAC told me how I could not possibly understand the United States because I am white. They droned on and on about how African-Americans have no rights in America, failing to acknowledge the tremen- dous opportunities given to them since 1964. The MMAC Executive Board deemed that I had not spoken to enough "colored people" to have valid viewpoints. They even told me they would disregard any petition by Markley residents to change the name of the lounge because Markley "was too white." These comments sickened me and made me seriously question the legitimacy of MMAC's work. MMAC does not care about equality or free- dom of speech, it cares about honoring people who seek to destroy America as we know it. Angela Davis is a communist, one who received money and awards (she earned an award that was formerly known as the "Stalin Stipend") from the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. This is'the same country that killed tens of mil- lions of people for the sole reason that they dis- agreed with Communism; this is the same country that had nuclear missiles pointed at the United States only 90 miles away. Yet, for some reason, MMAC thinks it is appropriate to wor- ship someone who supports a country that uri- nates on all political freedom. Apparently, the next lounge that MMAC names will be called the Osama bin Laden lounge. KARL EGGERs LSA freshman LETTERS POLICY The Michigan Daily welcomes letters from all of its readers. Letters from University students, faculty, staff and administrators will be given pri- ority over others. Letters should include the writer's name, college and school year or other University affiliation. The Daily will not print any letter con- taining statements that cannot be verified. Letters should be kept to approximately 300 words. The Michigan Daily reserves the right to edit for length, clarity and accuracy. Longer "viewpoints" may be arranged with an editor. Letters will be run according to order received and the amount of space available. Letters should be sent over e-mail to lerters@michigandaily.com or mailed to the Daily at 420 Maynard St. Editors can be reached via e-mail at editpage.editors@umich.edu. Letters e-mailed to the Daily will be given priority over those dropped off in person or sent via the U.S. Postal Service. FROM THE UNIVERSITY WIRE Our moral imperative to give humanitarian aid STAFF EDITORIAL by The Chronicle At last week's global poverty conference in Monterrey, Mexico, President George W. Bush announced that he would increase aid to developing countries by 50 per- DUK cent over the next three years. Thic mn .a nnr f I Naffnrt en. f n -I z the rule of law and human rights." He added that the increase in aid was part .of the fight against terrorism. Hopefully, Bush's motives go beyond the United States' immediate eco- nomic and security interests -- improving the lot of the world's poor benefits everyone in the long term. E U. Acting now is morally f , 0 eimperative. Furthermore, nation's GNP. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for wealthy nations to give 0.7 percent of their GNP as aid. Five European countries already exceed that goal, but when the United States is included, the average percent- age of GNP spent on aid falls to 0.22 percent. This nation, which preaches the importance of humanitarianism to the rest of the world, must do more. Of eours eanv foreign aid must he care- I. Aw