Clinton's absentee presidency
There's one positive thing about the Clinton
presidency. He really hasn't done much
governing.
Oh, he plays golf. He attends fund-raisers. He
travels to foreign countries. He dispatches
troops to every corner of the world to serve as
global policemen. He makes speeches. He
signs executive orders, issues presidential
decision directives. He makes proclamations.
He reads polls. And, of course, he hustles
women -- constantly. But for a guy who
frquently talks about "getting back to work for
the country," he really doesn't do much -- at
least not in the traditional sense of the
presidency.
Earlier this month we learned that he hadn't
convened a Cabinet meeting for the previous
seven months. That's right. Seven months.
I was shocked. I'm still amazed that not one
press outlet in the country saw that as
significantly newsworthy. No stories have
been filed about his absentee presidency. But
that's exactly what it is. He truly is
dysfunctional in more ways than one.
Can you imagine if President Reagan had
gone seven months without holding a Cabinet
meeting? We know he held them regularly
because of all the stories about him dozing off
during the sessions.
How can a president carry out an agenda
without regular meetings with Cabinet-level
department heads? These are the people who
are charged with taking the directives from
their leader and executing them. Clinton
spends far more time with his lawyers,
fighting off impeachment threats and
lawsuits, than with his top-level officials.
Former Central Intelligence Agency Director
James Woolsey recently told the London
Telegraph that, during his two years in the
administration, he managed to secure only
two conversations with Clinton. Two
conversations -- not meetings. So, this style of
management -- or non-management -- is
nothing new for Clinton. This is the way he
has carried out his responsibilities from day
one.
Again, for this we should be grateful. Because
if Clinton were an effective administrator, we
would all be in much deeper trouble today
than we are -- and we are in plenty as it is.
Think about it. Clinton had far more
"meetings" with his intern, Monica Lewinsky,
than he did with his CIA director. Once again,
while it's shameful, disgusting, immoral,
disgraceful and embarrassing, in a way, it's
also fortunate. Can you imagine the kind of
mischief this president could create for our
nation had he met more frequently with his
CIA chief? His FBI director? His Health and
Human Services secretary? His Education
secretary? It's frightening to think about.
Nevertheless, without the accountability those
Cabinet meetings require, Clinton's
department heads are left to make policy,
create regulations, enforce laws and generally
terrorize the population on their own
initiative. This is not good, either. And it's one
more reason -- as if we needed one -- that
Clinton has to go.
Evidently, Clinton doesn't trust his Cabinet.
He prefers to meet with members
individually rather than collectively. It's no
wonder. When the Cabinet did convene
earlier this month, the public was treated to a
blow-by-blow description of a confrontation
he had with Donna Shalala.
But that's one of the healthy aspects of Cabinet
meetings. The more people involved in
governing the country, the more likelihood
there is that the American people will find out
what the rascals are doing to us. Clinton
prefers secrecy. He prefers governing by
edict.
This is further evidence that Clinton has
actually created a whole new system of
government, subverting the Constitution,
bypassing the process of checks and balances
and turning over the executive branch to a
shadow regime of attorneys, pollsters, media
spinmeisters, corporate hucksters and
Arkansas political cronies.
That's Clinton's real Cabinet. Let me give you
a couple of examples. Janet Reno has never
really been the attorney general. In the
beginning, Webster Hubbell, technically the
No. 3 person in the Justice Department, was
the actual liaison with the president. Clinton's
first choice for Defense secretary was Bernard
Schwartz of the Loral Corp. When it was clear
that appointment would never fly, Schwartz
still got all he wanted from the administration
-- all the waivers he needed to allow his
company to go into business with the Chinese
government, sharing technological secrets that
threatened the national security of the United
States. Warren Christopher was never really
the secretary of State. He was a puppet, a
figurehead. Strobe Talbot was the real deal.
So who needs Cabinet meetings? They require
messy details like the taking of minutes,
official records, press conferences. The
shadow Cabinet, on the other hand, can meet
between quickies in the Oval Office anteroom,
phone sex and visits with Eleanor Mondale. |
