ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 20, 1996 TAG: 9605200140
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
HAS ANYONE noticed that the 1996 presidential campaign promises a series of debates that are, for the most part, beside the point? It's a dispiriting prospect.
This newspaper favors raising the minimum wage. But as a presidential-campaign issue, it's more symbolic than substantive.
The federal gas tax, which remains too low, is a ridiculous basis for debating tax cuts.
Shall we talk crime? Fine, but keep in mind the federal government doesn't have a lot to do with it - notwithstanding President Clinton's taking credit for falling crime rates and Bob Dole's attempt to blame mayhem on federal judges.
One problem with such a presidential campaign, aside from the fact that it insults the citizens' intelligence, is that Americans miss an opportunity to focus on the big choices facing the nation.
Another problem is that the candidate who finally emerges to occupy the White House will do so without a clear mandate for where to lead the country. He'll also face a public yet more cynical about politics.
Clinton, it is said, plans to base his presidential campaign on a negative proposition - that is, on what he isn't. While adopting some of the social-issue and fiscal concerns of conservatives, he'll pledge to resist the excesses of extremist congressional Republicans.
Vote for me, he'll say in effect: I'm worried about family values and federal deficits, too - but I'm no Newt Gingrich. I'll protect your Medicare.
Dole, following his startling resignation from the Senate, is free to go on the offensive as an "outsider". This increases the odds that America will be subjected to a repeat of the 1988 presidential campaign's plot line.
Remember that exercise? A respectable GOP moderate stooped to demonizing a middle-of-the-road Democrat with incendiary and divisive non-issues like the Pledge of Allegiance, the ACLU and Willie Horton.
Expect to hear a lot about gay marriages in coming months.
Meanwhile, when will Clinton and Dole get around to discussing what needs to be done with Social Security and Medicare to prepare for the coming retirement of Baby Boomers?
When will we hear attempts to articulate a coherent foreign policy for the next century?
When will the candidates put forward plans, commensurate with the scope of the problem, for addressing the growing incomes and knowledge gaps dividing America's rich and poor?
We're waiting. We may be waiting awhile.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENTby CNB