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.
A daily radio broadcast adaptation of Joseph Farah's commentaries can be heard at ktkz.com
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