THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 10, 1996 TAG: 9609100008
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 44 lines
When people bemoan politics, they often mean the things candidates will do in order to be elected. But last week politics was apparently to blame for what President Clinton didn't do. He didn't show up for the christening of the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman at Newport News Shipbuilding.
The official explanation was that the Federal Election Commission might consider presidential participation a campaign stop, in which case his campaign could be liable for the cost of his attending.
If there's any validity to that worry, then the law - in this case the federal election law - is the ass that Charles Dickens said it was. Surely christening a new carrier ought to be construed as part of the duties of the president as commander in chief, not as a political act. If the FEC had been around, it would probably have billed the Lincoln campaign for the cost of his delivering the Gettysburg Address.
But it's possible Clinton had other reasons for not attending. The White House said it also wanted to spare Navy brass from charges they were engaging in politics by taking part. That may have been just a polite way of saying Clinton wanted to spare both himself and military personnel who oppose his re-election the possibility of embarrassment.
Clinton never served in the military, of course. He opposed the war in Vietnam and has presided over part of the post-Cold War downsizing of defense. As a result, he has been the least-popular commander in chief with the military in living memory. In previous appearances at military events he's been snubbed and heckled.
No doubt Clinton was chary, two months before an election, of putting himself in a position where he might be subjected to a televised cold-shoulder or tepid applause. Such reluctance would be understandable, but that doesn't make the situation any more attractive.
Presidents ought to be able to dedicate great fighting ships without getting a bill in the mail. And military personnel ought to be able to park their politics for the duration.
Such events involve the president of the United States in his symbolic and ceremonial roles, not just as an individual politician. You don't have to like the incumbent to show respect for the office. It's a sign of our overly politicized times that such a distinction has apparently been lost. by CNB