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Why Is Bush Perpetuating Clinton
Policies? |
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May 21, 2003 Why is President George W. Bush
continuing policies that were initiated by Bill Clinton? The voters
elected Bush to change obnoxious Clinton policies, and they don't
understand why Bush is keeping the following seven in force.
- One example is the Clinton Administration's abolition of the
Army's "Risk Rule," which had exempted women in support units from
areas that involve "inherent risk of capture." That policy change,
ordered by the Clinton feminists, is the reason why a single
mother of two very young children was killed in the Iraq war and
another single mother of a two-year-old was taken as a POW.
When asked if this sending-moms-to-war policy might be changed,
Bush said at his news conference, "That's going to be up to the
generals." When Ari Fleischer fielded the follow-up questions, he
accused the reporter of "dealing with a hypothetical."
But Jessica, Lori and Shoshana are not hypotheticals. They, and
Shoshana's 2-year-old baby and Lori's three- and four-year-olds,
are all victims of a Clinton policy that Bush could change with a
stroke of his pen. But, according to Fleischer, this hasn't risen
"to a higher policy level."
What's a higher policy level than defending mothers of infants
against being killed or captured by the axis of evil? Keeping
faith with a shameful Clinton policy? Fear of the frightful
feminists who applaud our government giving Jessica, Lori and
Shoshana their career opportunities on the battlefield, and who
assert that mothers are fully deployable a few months after giving
birth?
- Why doesn't Bush terminate other Clinton rules that impose the
feminist agenda on the military, such as coed basic training? The
Army Training Command admitted that coed basic training, which is
gender- normed to reduce female injuries, is "not efficient" and
of no military value.
That gave Bush a great chance to liberate the Army from
Clinton's foolish policy. Without presidential leadership, the
generals are certainly not going to act on their own.
- Nor, without a presidential decision, will the generals
overturn Clinton's convoluted "don't ask, don't tell" enforcement
regulations, which a federal Court of Appeals found to be
inconsistent with the 1993 law banning homosexuals from the
military.
- The feminists in the Clinton Department of Education engaged
in aggressive enforcement of Title IX, using bureaucratically
invented words and rules that were not authorized by the statute.
They used Title IX to punish men by forcing colleges to abolish
171 wrestling teams and hundreds of men's teams in gymnastics,
swimming, golf and even football.
President Bush appointed a commission to study the distortions
of Title IX, but he foolishly gave some of the commission seats to
feminists, and they used the media to grandstand for their side of
the controversy. Secretary of Education Rod Paige then announced
he would not implement any changes that were not unanimously
recommended, so Clinton's anti-male policies about college
athletics will continue under Bush.
- The Clinton Administration persuaded Congress to pass a ban on
semi-automatic assault rifles in 1994, and the ban will sunset
next year. Senate Democrats have introduced a bill to continue the
ban and, to the shock of the National Rifle Association, Bush
announced that he supports the Democrats' bill.
President Bush seems to have forgotten that his steadfast
support of Second Amendment rights was the main reason he carried
the Democratic states of Arkansas, Tennessee and West Virginia in
November 2000. If he had lost any one of those, Al Gore would be
president.
- Then there is the matter of Clinton sending U.S. troops to
Bosnia and its relation to the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Treaty which Clinton's emissaries enthusiastically helped to write
and Clinton signed as one of his last official acts. Bush had a
wonderful opportunity to withdraw our troops from Bosnia when the
ICC impudently asserted jurisdiction over Americans even though
Bush had "unsigned" the ICC Treaty.
For a brief few days, Bush stood tall for the protection of
American service personnel by threatening to pull our troops out
of Bosnia unless the United Nations promised us immunity from the
ICC. But then he wobbled, accepting a lame compromise that left
the U.S. with the almost impossible task of trying to negotiate
separate immunity agreements with the 139 ICC countries, while at
the same time keeping our troops on duty in Bosnia as a fig leaf
to cover the ethnic hostility that is still as bitter and
dangerous as ever.
- Another Clinton policy, Executive Order 13166, requires all government
agencies, and all entities receiving federal funds (such as
doctors and hospitals), to provide their services in any foreign
language demanded by a client. The perfect opportunity to rescind
this costly unfunded mandate was served up when the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled two years ago that no one has a right to demand
government services in languages other than English.
But President Bush chose to continue Clinton's pandering to
non- English speaking minorities. Regrettably, Bush breathed new
life into Clinton's EO 13166 with all its follies and
costs.
We're still hoping for a repudiation these Clinton policies.
Phyllis Schlafly is the author of "Feminist
Fantasies" (Spence Pub. Co., 2003)
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