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Opinion
Denying partisan politics
not convincing for many
March 30, 2004
If it happened at any time other than during a presidential campaign, Richard Clarke’s criticism of President Bush’s handling of the war on terror might be a little more credible. Under the circumstances, though, it’s hard to think of anything but partisan politics with a grudge in the background. It makes it very hard to believe him.
For one thing, Clarke, the former anti-terror adviser to four presidents, has publicly announced his support for Democrat John Kerry for president. Second, Clarke’s former deputy, Rand Beers, is now adviser to the presidential campaign of Senator Kerry.
THEN, WHEN YOU ADD the fact that Clarke has written a book and it was to come out shortly after he leveled his accusations, you have to wonder if the timing wasn’t set to help promote sales of the book which contains Clarke’s allegations.
Don’t forget, too, that Clarke was after a bigger job in the present administration and did not get it. In fact, he was pretty much demoted. That alone would be motive enough to make him want to lash out at President Bush and others in the White House. Combine this with all the other could-be motivations for retaliation, and all of them together give Clarke’s attempts to embarrass the president a strong look of selfishness laced with partisan politics.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, including most South Carolinians of every political stripe, aren’t all that easy to mislead, though, In fact, a recent poll by Newsday showed that half of those polled believe Clarke’s efforts are indeed politically motivated. A third of the people said they believe Clarke’s action shows he is simply a conscientious public servant.
Whatever the final analysis, it appears that half of those polled were right on the money. They believed Clarke’s book of allegations was indeed politically motivated, for whatever reason. At this point, it just might be all but impossible to convince the majority otherwise.
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