Democrats, the Party of Hiding Behind Kids
If there were no such thing as children, Bill Clinton and his fellow Democrats would have to invent them. Perhaps never in U.S. history have a president and his party so shamelessly used children as the raison d’etre for more taxing, more spending and more government interference in our lives.
This is a president who should have been sworn into office with one hand placed on Dr. Spock’s “Baby and Child Care” instead of the Bible. I’m surprised he hasn’t changed the name of his office to the Oval Playpen and that he doesn’t have Press Secretary Mike McCurry hold the daily news briefing in the middle of the night so it can be called the 2 a.m. feeding. Delivering an annual State of the Acne Address and wearing a red-speckled ribbon on the presidential lapel to show his support in the fight against diaper rash probably aren’t out of the question.
Virtually every Clinton initiative is framed, sooner or later, as being in the best interests of the nation’s or the world’s children, allowing him to portray his political opponents as anti-kids. He even absurdly brought kids into the equation in the confrontation with Iraq late last year over Saddam Hussein’s expulsion of U.N. weapons inspectors. Clinton insisted the inspectors must be allowed to do their jobs because “the safety of the children of the world depends on it.” Funny how FDR and Winston Churchill got through World War II without saying it was all about children. But whatever the Iraqis put into their anthrax to make it harmful to kids only, it’s reassuring to know that adults won’t have to worry if the stuff is ever unleashed.
I believe part of Clinton’s success with women, specifically mothers, is his talent for making them feel he cares more about their children than the little ones’ own dads do. It’s as phony as the biting of his lower lip to portray empathy. I doubt Clinton cares about children any more or less than the average American, but using them as shields makes it easier to escape criticism. If Will Rogers never met a man he didn’t like, Bill Clinton never met a child he didn’t like to hide behind. Sometimes literally, as during the 1996 presidential campaign when he appeared at many events accompanied by more youngsters than the Pied Piper, and recently when he showed up on the White House lawn with kids wearing anti-smoking T-shirts. With Clinton, what appears to be a touchy, feely “Kodak moment” with a caring president is closer to a cynical photo opportunity for a shrewd politician. And I suspect that many of the kids, who can usually see right through insincere adults, feel it and know it.
With the tobacco wars now switching from Congress to the campaign trail, the use of children by Clinton and the Democrats can best be summed up in the words, “You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.” From now until November, children will be put forward as the paramount reason that Republicans should be defeated, and it’s not going to be pretty. The brilliant Democratic propaganda and advertising machine will portray Republicans as pumping their fist in glee at the prospect of wheezing, gasping, dying teenage smokers, while holding out their other hand to receive big payoffs from the tobacco companies.
This Democratic election punch was telegraphed by Vice President Al Gore and Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, who cleverly suggested replacing the initials GOP with RJR. And Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, a possible Democratic presidential candidate, went even further. Surrounded by--what else--children, he proclaimed that one-third of the youngsters standing there with him would die, thanks to the Republicans.
Before Clinton and the Democrats finish spinning their macabre tales, the ultimate fear of the nation’s children won’t be the bogeyman hiding under their beds or in their closets, but Republicans. It would be nice if the Republicans would summon the means and the will to fight back against this nonsense, but expecting an effective response from the GOP these days is like expecting the head of the Southern Baptists to buy a subscription to Ms. magazine.
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