Poisoning The Well We All Drink From

As the King of Siam said in the musical gospel according to Rodgers and Hammerstein, “It’s a puzzlement.”

At a moment when the world’s most dynamic democracy should be at the pinnacle of its power and prestige, it is sputtering like an ancient Model T trying to traverse a road pitted with partisanship and littered with politics.

We have a young president who is extremely intelligent and well motivated, but flawed by past indiscretions and a tendency toward irresolution. We have a Congress whose operations are controlled by the Democrats, but whose efforts to pass major legislation often convey the impression that no one is in control.

We have, in opposition, a Republican Party whose membership includes many individuals dedicated to the destruction of Bill Clinton’s presidency and to the sabotage of his proposed reforms.

Instead of the summer of 1994 being a period of achievement and even enlightenment, it too often has degenerated into a shameful orgy of petty partisanship, spiced with biting invective.

To compound the problem and confound the public, special interests have spent tens of millions of dollars to prevent passage of health care reform and an anti-crime bill that includes a ban on assault weapons.

Lobbies traditionally have attempted to manipulate the legislative process but never with such vulgar expenditures of money.

The two political parties are divided by legitimate ideological differences but rarely have those differences been more acrimonious than they are today.

Only when voters became irate over the probable death of anti-crime legislation did the president and the Republicans seriously seek to reconcile their differences and move the measure to the House floor for a vote.

Our system works in strange ways.

A man from Arkansas enters public life not just for his own self-aggrandizement but also to work toward a better life for his fellow citizens. He has ideas and ideals that he believes will improve the lot of the people - including health care reform, anti-crime legislation and a drastic change in the way welfare benefits are doled out.

He is elected president on a promise to infuse change into a society that has become dissatisfied with the status quo and to end the political stalemate of recent years. A vast plateau of potential achievement lies before him.

Over solid opposition of Republicans, he wins passage of a budget that for the first time in recent memory reduces the federal deficit. Then with aid from those same Republicans and over opposition of many Democrats, he triumphs in a battle for approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which promises increased commerce and jobs.

He presides over a flourishing economy and can point with pride to the creation of 4 million jobs.

But his presidency is haunted by investigations into his past adventures and by the efforts of some Republicans to convert him into a latter-day Richard Nixon.

Such is the plight of William Jefferson Clinton as his second summer in the presidency draws to a close. Such is the plight of the republic in the 206th year of its existence.

The American people have reason to be dismayed by the performance of the men and women they elected to conduct the business of their government. It is Congress’ duty to dissect and debate major proposals, such as health care and crime control legislation, before writing them into law. It also Congress’ duty to seek accommodation rather the just political gain.

There are times when the national interest should supersede myopic partisanship. There are times when even the opposition should remember that the American people elected the president to be their leader and fulfill his commitments.

A weakened president is like a wounded animal - prey for all the predators that abound in our country and the world.

The nastiness that has poisoned the atmosphere this summer was best illustrated by an incident that occurred Aug. 11 when House members voted initially to block consideration of the crime bill.

To a Democratic charge that the Republicans were determined to deny Clinton such a legislative triumph, Texas Republican Richard Armey snapped: “Your president is just not that important to us.”

At that point, Speaker Thomas Foley rose up in all his dignity and made a historic point: “I’ve served here for 30 years. Richard Nixon was my president, our president. Ronald Reagan was our president. George Bush was our president, and Bill Clinton is our president.”

That was one of Foley’s finest moments. Like all 40 men who preceded him in office, Bill Clinton may have many flaws, but he is not the president of one party or one faction. He is president of all the American people.