6 4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, December 10, 2002 OP/ED 4t jwtrh4tqatl 74Dailu 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 NOTABLE QUOTABLE You're not really going to put me on the cover, are you? 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. BONNIE KELLMAN MiEUD MNUTS Co~r oraALC, Amve is ~SoSaViof. 10 . *'.'~~-e4. S 4 -National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in this week's Newsweek. She is on the cover. Thanks for nothing JOSEPH LITMAN THE LOW END THEORY B ill Clinton was a number and get in line behind me. I'm waiting gating the Iran Contra scandal, an egregious- real letdown for .... ly illegal scheme perpetuated by Ronald Rea- me, and that was While the number of those following me gan and Bush 41. Abrams joins similarly before I knew that he may be underwhelming (Bush's approval rat- convicted or charged Pentagon official John used the Oval Office as a ings are unreal), it is still important to Poindexter, U.N. Ambassador John Negro- house of assignation. acknowledge the facts, even if the discussion ponte and State Department envoy Otto Independent of the falls on too many deaf ears: Reich on the president's criminal, policy- quality time that he spent George W. Bush received fewer votes, in wonk dream team, the only team with more with Monica Lewinsky, the aggregate, than Al Gore in 2002, and were charges against it than the Portland Jail-, er, my opinion of Clinton it not for the Supreme Court's intervention, Trailblazers. Abrams' a'ppointment is both soured almost from the beginning of his first Bush might not even be President. Following smug and surreptitious; convicted felons who term, when he started compromising his person- that debacle, it seemed logical that the slim and previously abused like powers have no place al beliefs and led the Democratic Party toward questionable results would force Bush to be in the government and to casually welcome the center, a place far too right. It was difficult conciliatory and work as a coalition builder. them back into the fold - beyond the juris- to watch an amazingly intelligent, wonderfully However, such has not been the case, and the diction of the confirmation process - is an optimistic, ideologically congruent man who opposite has instead been true. Starting with insult to the public. Is no one offended by originally had so much promise do so little. The his administration's decision to withdraw from Bush's arrogance? AmeriCorps program? That was a nice accom- the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty two springs The other reason that I now pine for the plishment, but hardly on par with positive past, Bush has seemingly only served just spe- squandered-promise days of Clinton is that changes like the New Deal or the Civil Rights cial interests who comprised his core campaign when Bush isn't completely pandering to his Act. Perhaps expecting a legislative reform of supporters - the defense, gun, oil, and finance friends or donors, he is wallowing in the mess that magnitude was too much, but Clinton industries - or his dad's friends. Cutting for- that he's created. Yesterday, the country's seemed to leave no significant contribution, not eign aid to programs meant to help women Democratic governors had to meet with George even an idiotic ideological regime like his pre- with contraception and alienating labor unions and his regents to plead for money necessary to decessors', which soughtto cast ketchup as a has only further illustrated that the people who enact the new security and education policies vegetable and minorities as criminals. tell Bush what to think have decided to ignore that this administration has capriciously mandat- In these days of turmoil - looking for a the majority of Americans who voted for ed. Bush's response? Sorry, can't help you job in a recessing economy, reading daily someone else. guys; I squandered all the money the govern- updates about an impending war and expecting I mention all of this for two reasons. First, ment had with my foolish, worthless tax cut. But William Rehnquist to author his legacy by pro- Elliott Abrams was named Bush's director of at least we're about to kill Saddam, right? hibiting movement toward racial equity - I Middle Eastern affairs last week, adding to Never before have so many awful decisions am prone to fondly remember President Clin- the number of Cold-War-era, convicted-felon made those not rendered seem so great. My ton, though. At least his ineffectiveness was retreads that G-dub has welcomed back to the question to G-dub: What have you done for me equal-opportunity inertia. Conversely, George political mainland after eight sad years spent lately? W. has been quite active, but his efforts have on Elba during the previous regime. Those only been on behalf of a precious few. If there who recognize Abrams' name perhaps do so is anyone else who thinks that he or she is off because he pled guilty to withholding infor- Joseph Litman can be reached the current administration's radar, please take a mation from Congress when it was investi- at litman@umich.edu. 2003: A Republican odyssey? JON SCHWARTZ Two SIDES TO EVERY SCHWARTZ ot too many peo- anyone worthwhile on the ticket. Even with else. ple get to cele- miserable candidates, the elections were all America is fighting one war and is about to brate their 100th very close. start another. There's serious question as to birthday in the Senate I've been thinking about that since Lott how nuch longer Roe v. Wade will hold up. Office building. Congrat- made his comments Thursday. My friend may Affirmative action may very well be struck ulations on reaching that be right. Maybe with better candidates the down come June. As revolting as this sounds, if mark, Strom. Democrats could have maintained their control the Republicans haven't won yet, they certainly Why don't we leave it of Congress, maybe they could have kept in hold a commanding lead. at that. line the checks and balances that our dear presi- As Newsweek reported in last week's Of course, not every- dent so desperately needs. cover story, this government is foolishly con- one decided to give the old legislator a pat on But they didn't, and here we are with Trent vinced that abstinence is the best way to curb the back and a respectful round of applause. Lott reminding us that we'll never know how teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted dis- No, someone decided that Strom Thurmond's good life would have been if he and the rest of eases. Our president believes that I should be entire life should be remembered and appreciat- his filthy pals had gotten those black people off moved when he concludes every statement ed on the day he reached the milestone. Decid- our backs. with a tribute to his religion. And the loudest ed to reminisce on how much better off we In case you're concerned, yes, this is 2002. voice in our Senate dreams of good old segre- would all be if Thurmond (R-S.C.) had won the I have a Pakistani professor who has been gation. Terrifying. presidency in 1948 on his platform of continu- in this country for only about two years. Last We're just 21 days from 2003, which is ing segregation. Wednesday during a class discussion, he told shaping up to be an incredibly important year Fortunately, it was no one important, only us how impressed he's been with American for America. President Bush, whose father the incoming Senate majority leader, Trent Lott society, how incorrect so many of the foreign gave us Clarence Thomas, will likely be nomi- (R-Miss.). stereotypes proved to be. Thank you, we told nating a new chief justice of the United States, When the U.S. Supreme Court granted cert him, but he's not really seeing America in an a recommendation that will be ultimately to the University's admissions lawsuits last Ann Arbor classroom. America does not really approved by Lott's Republican Senate. The week, I asked a colleague, a firm supporter of exist in the generally liberal Midwestern uni- next year will likely see another war, huge tax affirmative action, if he considered the versities such as ours. America certainly cuts and the 2004 presidential race begin to announcement a win or a loss. He explained to includes the Midwest, but you can't forget take shape. me that it was a win, because he saw no way about North Dakota, California, New York, If my Pakistani professor stays in this coun- that his group would fail to drum up enough Texas, South Carolina or Trent Lott's own try through the next year and my affirmative support for the cause, thereby ensuring that the Grenada County, Miss. action-rallying colleague keeps his eyes on the nine justices would fall in line. It's easy in a city like Ann Arbor to forget country as a whole, maybe they'll see what My response was that I applauded his confi- that this country is not resoundingly liberal. We America really looks like. dence, but the timing for the decision didn't live in this vacuum in which we believe that I just hope it better resembles their beliefs seem great to me. Last month's midterm elec- Americans are wholly opposed to war, where than those of our current political leaders. I tions seemed to indicate, at least to me, that this we're certain that pro-choice is the only way to just hope America doesn't look anything like country is undoubtedly leaning to the right, go, where conservatives rallying against affir- Trent Lott. even if just by a hair. mative action are in the minority. But they're No, I was told. The election was simply a not! To be exceedingly liberal on this campus, Jon Schwartz can be reached result of the failure by the Democrats to put you have to basically be communist anywhere atjlsz@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 0 0 South Asian Awareness Net. clarifies objectives To THE DAILY: Due to recent articles in The Michigan Daily the Chairs for the South Asian Awareness Net- work wanted to clarify the goals and purpose of the South Asian Awareness Network. The purpose of South Asian Awareness Net- work (SAAN) is to empower South Asian stu- dents to have an active role in their community throughout college and beyond. SAAN accom- plishes this by showing students the possibilities to create a cycle whereby cultural awareness and activism will facilitate the development of an identity increasing pride, confidence and respect for oneself and one's community. This inspiration will foster our culturalactivism, thus ensuring the continuity of our culture. We encourage members of the University community to visit www.urnich.edu/~saanconf to learn more about the SAAN Conference and how they can actively participate. MONA PATEL, PRIYA KOTHARY, CHETHRA MUTHIAH AND VIKRAM VAISHYA Co-Chairs, South Asian Awareness Network this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these prob- lems over all these years, either." When Strom Thurmond ran for president as a Dixiecrat in 1948, he ran with "Segregation Forever" as a central platform issue. By not only condoning, but also endorsing this ideology, Lott expressed his true colors - racism, bigotry and a longing for the days of legally-sanctioned segregation. What are the "problems" that Lott so euphemistically speaks of? I can only guess, and urge you to do the same. Both Republicans and Democrats should be !.are s the rnnnter.whene, 'v.er D eual ordeal~ots iat assauti. S I