By Stephan Sears
I always thought March Madness referred to the NCAA basketball tournament. One look at the papers proved me wrong.
In the past few weeks, we have had the September 11 Commission, Richard Clarke, the true beginning of the presidential season, a terrorist attack in Madrid followed by a momentous political upset and even a failed assassination in Taiwan.
Even worse, March is just a set-up for maybe the most catastrophic month in history: April. Now, I understand anyone could find horrible events that have occurred in every month, but April is an especially bad one. There is the Oklahoma City Bombing, Columbine, Hitler’s birthday, Lincoln’s assassination, the sinking of the Titanic, Fort Sumter, Waco, the San Francisco Earthquake and even Kurt Cobain’s suicide.
But not to worry. Spring is here and the warm weather is sure to follow. So here are a few observations of the past few weeks and the weeks to follow.
* Richard Clarke’s apology to the families of the September 11 victims has to go down as one of the more courageous, unforgettable moments of the year so far. As far as I can remember, it is the first apology from a major government official for the failures that took place three years ago. Finally, someone in Washington had the guts to simply say, “We failed you.”
* That was the easy part for Clarke. If he ties his shoes the wrong way, the Republicans will find out. They cannot attack his statements with any success, but they can attack his credibility. Many think Clarke is doing this for political reasons, right smack dab in the middle of a reelection campaign. The truth is that Time Magazine reported on this last year and it is in Al Franken’s book, “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.” The story has been out a while, but everyone has been too lazy or ignorant to pay attention to it until now.
* Dick Cheney went on Rush Limbaugh’s show and told the ditto heads that Clarke was “out of the loop.” Many people have asked this question and so will I — how come the counter-terrorist chief is “out of the loop” when it comes to counter-terrorism? That is quite an administration you have running there, Dick.
* How much does the Clarke issue hurt President Bush? It certainly will not help, but it may not destroy him either. Either way, the war on terror is Bush’s main avenue back to the White House, and now that avenue is closing a little bit. If you hear his speeches and watch his commercials you would think that if and when Sen. John F. Kerry takes over, there will be daily terrorist attacks with Kerry himself serving as a personal escort for the evildoers. It strikes me as odd that, though it was not his fault that terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, it happened under his watch. Three thousand deaths under his watch. To me, his claims of being our best protector sound a little shallow.
* I will not go as far as saying Al Qaeda won the Spanish elections, but they certainly got what they had intended.
* Memo to John Kerry: Pick a VP candidate now! The Bush administration is attacking you from all angles, from Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Dick Cheney, Bush himself and even Georgian Democratic Senator Zell Miller. You need some help.
* I like John Edwards on the ticket. Imagine him and Cheney in a debate. Edwards would annihilate him. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, a Latino, would also be a great choice. Al Gore barely won the state in 2000, so Richardson’s presence should ensure it stays in the blue. He should help immensely in the Southwest and may attract Latino votes in states like Florida or Arizona. Kerry may even choose an unknown candidate from out of left field. I have no idea. I just hope he picks one pretty soon.
* There are rumblings in the papers that Bush might drop Cheney from the ticket. He adds very little to the ticket and it would be a good decision. So it is safe to say Cheney will stay.
* From early polling, Bush looks strong in Minnesota. Since Carter’s election in 1976, Minnesota has voted for the Democrat, the longest streak of any state in the nation. Gore won the North Star state by only two percentage points in 2000, 46 percent to 44 percent. Democrats should worry.
* Lastly, some off topic observations. The campus should lament the loss of the University Press. Publishing books helps with prestige, but here on Huntington Avenue, the fact that it was losing more money than usual hastened its demise. The big wigs left the faculty high and dry on this one. Anyone see a pattern here?
* I just had to snicker at a story in the Boston Globe Friday. I read that Northeastern is a “non-profit organization.”
— Stephen Sears can be reached at [email protected].
