From the front page of today's Washington Post: More evidence that Clinton's is the first Administration, of, by and for the polls:
Puncturing an AIDS Initiative At Last Minute,
White House Political Fears Killed Needle Funding
By John F. Harris and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, April 23, 1998; Page A01
At 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Health and Human Services Secretary Donna E.
Shalala was huddled with her top scientific advisers, preparing for a news
conference later that morning in which she planned to announce that federal
funds could be used for needle-exchange programs.
A news release announcing the long-debated decision was ready. So were
talking points for the secretary's case: Federal funding could start flowing
because there was now conclusive research that needle exchanges slowed
the spread of AIDS without encouraging drug use.
"The evidence is airtight," Shalala planned to say, according to a copy of
the talking points.
But the decision was not as airtight as Shalala and her staff believed.
Shortly before 9 a.m., she was called out of the meeting for a phone call
from White House Chief of Staff Erskine B. Bowles. The needle-exchange
decision, he told Shalala, was proving too politically risky. President
Clinton had changed his mind.
So the secretary quickly changed hers. When Shalala, joined by her visibly
uncomfortable advisers, faced reporters at midday, it was to announce that
federal funds would not be used to support needle-exchange programs.
The last-minute reversal over paying for clean needles for addicts offers a
vivid view into decision-making in Clinton's second term, according to
several administration officials in the White House and other agencies.....
washingtonpost.com
Well, considering your views, what do you think of this latest evidence of governance, Clinton-style? The master demagogue reserves his talents and capital for things important to him, like obstructing justice. |
