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Laura Ingraham. NewsMax.com,
Tuesday, May 14, 2002.
Liberals are aglow about former President Jimmy Carter's trip to Cuba.
Opening a dialogue with one of the most repressive regimes in the world is long
overdue, they believe. Meanwhile, Fidel "El Jefe" Castro is lapping up
the worldwide media focus and showering Carter with praise (thus implicitly
slamming President Bush).
Last week the administration accused Cuba of sending bioweapons material to
rogue nations. In a P.R. counteroffensive, El Jefe offered Carter complete
access to "anywhere he wants to go" in Cuba and denied the
administration's charges.
Carter's presence in Cuba sends confusing and unhelpful signals about
American foreign policy to the American people, the freedom-hungry people of
Cuba, and our allies. Quite a trifecta from a man whose own foreign policy was
an unmitigated disaster. Will Carter, who is deservedly praised for his
humanitarian efforts, demand to visit any of the thousands of the country's
political prisoners, whose only crime was speaking their minds?
Then there's the former president who takes the word classless to an
entirely new level – Bill Clinton. Last week in a speech to Hunter College,
he urged the U.S. to head a global peacekeeping force in the Middle East.
Clinton magnanimously said he'd support President Bush, IF Bush promoted the
peacekeeping force idea.
But that's not the end of Clinton's meddling. We learn in today's USA Today
that Clinton met for 90 minutes with Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia when
the crown prince was in Houston during his visit to the Bush's Crawford Ranch.
At a time when U.S.-Saudi relations are so sensitive, one would think that
Clinton would have at least alerted the White House to the meeting. He did not.
The point is former presidents aren't just ordinary citizens. They still
carry with them a level of prestige and cachet that requires that they pay
special heed to the effect of their public pronouncements and visits with
foreign leaders.
If President Bush had asked either Carter or Clinton for assistance with
Saudi Arabia or with Cuba (heaven forbid), there would have been no story. (Can
anyone imagine former President Reagan, were he healthy, doing what Carter or
Clinton are doing now?)
Carter and Clinton are just the most recent in a long line of public figures
who don't know how to let go. Even Johnny Carson – one of the few men to
understand the meaning of the word "retirement" – gave an
interview to Esquire magazine recently, trashing today's "reality
television."
Septuagenarian network news anchors, who are desperately fearful of life
after television, suffer from the same addiction to the spotlight. In search of
that next publicity fix, they lose all good sense.
It is incumbent upon the Bush administration to force them to go cold
turkey. Rather than rolling over for Carter and Clinton, President Bush should
take a tough, unequivocal line: "Thanks, but we'll call you when we need
you." | 
