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Politics : Did Slick Boink Monica? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cody andre who wrote (18788)	9/2/1998 6:18:00 AM
From: Zoltan!	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 20981

Black Kennedy aide calls Clinton a liar on race: September 2, 1998 Clinton Lies About Race, Too By CLIFFORD ALEXANDER When he's in trouble, and even when he's not, Bill Clinton is known to play fast and furious with issues of race. He did it again last Friday in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., in a speech commemorating the 35th anniversary of the civil rights March on Washington. Mr. Clinton said the following: "Most of us who are old enough remember exactly where we were on Aug. 28, 1963. I was in my living room in Hot Springs, Ark. I remember the chair I was sitting in; I remember exactly where it was in the room; I remember exactly the position of the chair when I sat and watched on national television the great March on Washington unfold. I remember weeping uncontrollably during Martin Luther King's speech, and I remember thinking when it was over, my country would never be the same and neither would I." So spoke the man who in January could not remember whether he had been alone with Monica Lewinsky a few weeks earlier. And it wasn't the first time Mr. Clinton had suspiciously vivid memories on matters concerning race in America. On an earlier occasion he gravely told the nation of his vivid memory of church burnings in Arkansas when he was growing up. Journalists' inquiries revealed that there were no church burnings in Arkansas during Mr. Clinton's early years. Manipulating issues of black and white in America to distract our attention has been a favorite pastime for this president. Rather than showing concentrated leadership, thought and attention, he has made up stories that would have Americans believe that he has led the struggle to correct racial inequities. In his Martha's Vineyard speech he even compared himself to Nelson Mandela and Dr. King. Mr. Clinton would like race relations to be a central part of his presidential legacy. Thus last year he established the President's Initiative on Race. But what has it produced? Mr. Clinton, behaving more like a TV talk-show host than a president, has emceed various panel discussions, but he rarely expresses his own opinions on racial matters or displays essential qualities of leadership. Earlier this summer, with the help of newsman Jim Lehrer, the president assembled an ideologically and ethnically diverse gathering for an hour-long discussion. Somehow, our president of-many-colors managed to agree with all the panelists that evening, although they expressed many different and conflicting points of view. Race relations is not, and never has been, an easy subject. Progress is uneven, and discussion often clouded by years of layered prejudices and misdirected intentions. We do not need a president whose vivid imagination substitutes for hard work and leadership. Playing on citizens' emotions with elaborated or made-up stories only makes the cynical among us more so. On Aug. 28, 1963, I walked in the March on Washington with my wife, Adele, and our one-year-old daughter, Elizabeth. A young black family, we shared that moving experience with strangers and friends of all races and backgrounds. Recently Elizabeth and her husband, Ficre, have given us a grandson named Solomon. Our family, like other families, expects only greatness from him. But if his skin color is not to be a barrier, then we need more serious leadership than the nation has gotten from Mr. Clinton. interactive.wsj.com Mr. Alexander is president of Alexander & Associates, a firm specializing in workplace inclusiveness. He worked in the Kennedy and Johnson White Houses and served as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1967 to 1969, and secretary of the Army from 1977 to 1981.