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Ex-Presidents

Friday, May 17, 2002

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From Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• The next time George W. Bush and Ariel Sharon get together they will have one more thing in common: Being vexed by their predecessors. In Israel former Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu stormed a Likud party meeting and undermined the current Prime Minister's bargaining position by getting a resolution passed which specifically denies the Palestinian claims to an independent state.

• Former President Jimmy Carter ran down to Havana to - I'm not certain why he ran down to Havana but it appears he is not, to our great disappointment, staying there. By the way, his advisors should tell him that appearing in local dress does not make him look Cuban, but DOES make him look like he's on his way to Bernie's Diner for the Early Bird Special.

• Carter's visit is not the first time he has stepped on the toes of an incumbent President. During the Bill Clinton Administration, Carter was reportedly calling dictators all over the Caribbean leaving his home phone number if they wanted to chat about American foreign policy initiatives.

• This time, however, Carter has been aided and abetted by the breathless reporting of NBC's chief diplomatic correspondent, Andrea Mitchell, who has spent the better part of a week providing breathless reports including one - this is true - from the Cuban baseball all-star game in which Carter threw out the first pitch.

• Of course Tom Daschle and his fellow Democrats (Daschle and the Democrats - sounds like a '60s doo-wop group) jumped on this and are pushing for an end to the 40-year trade embargo against Cuba (which time period includes the four years of the very excellent Presidency of one James Earl Carter). Their point is the embargo has not led to the downfall of Fidel Castro and therefore has been, according to D and the Ds, a failure.

• On Brit Hume's Fox Cable News show the other night, Fred Barnes made an pretty good point: For almost all of that 40 years, Cuba's economy was artificially propped up by the Soviet Union. Now that Cuba is left to fend for itself, this is exactly the time when we should keep the pressure on until the Cuban people decide to dump Castro.

• All this has been viewed by the national press corps has having been a foreign policy problem for President Bush. The Administration's answer has been: We're not changing our policy toward Cuba until there is anything resembling the establishment of freedom in any segment of society there, so it's not a problem at all.

• The real problem for the Bush Administration is not the Carter foray to Cuba but the Clinton brain trust deciding that if the US media will give that kind of coverage to Carter (who nobody cares about), imagine what they'll do if Clinton makes a grand tour of Europe and the Middle East to meet with heads of State - past and present.

• Investment tip: Buy cigar and bongo futures. The Clinton Legacy Repair Tour will be announced soon.

• I got to thinking about my argument in favor of canceling the Crusader - a self-propelled 155 mm howitzer which was designed to battle Soviet tanks in a European land war. Isn't battling the Soviet Union in a European land war the reason for the existence of NATO?

• The Crusader is not in keeping with The Rumsfeld Overhaul, which calls for a highly mobile, highly agile US military.

• If we don't need the Crusader because the Soviet Union doesn't exist any more, why do we need NATO? To defend our allies against an all-out ground assault by who - Luxembourg?

• Geraldo: "We have reports from excellent sources that we can expect another wave of investment bankers any time now, Brit!"

• It appears that you and I are providing about a quarter of the total NATO budget year in and year out.

• Here's the Mullings Doctrine on the Defense of Europe: Get into trouble? Call us. We'll come over and help.
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  Copyright © 2002 Richard A. Galen

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