Editorial Distracted nation
selves a sovereign state? Stand back in surprise? But governance is not just policymaking. Attention must be paid as well to the structure and functioning of government—particularly if, as the...
...But agencies that required rethinking after the end of the cold war—most obviously the Defense Department and the military—continue to be seen as pork barrel projects first and instruments of foreign policy only secondarily...
...The Clinton scandal serves Republican interests in more ways than one...
...The emerging record of the CIA's assessment failures and errors of judgment during the cold war alone should raise questions about the seriousness of congressional oversight, especially of an organizational culture that seems to foster qualities the exact opposite of those needed by an "intelligence" agency (see, Senator Daniel Moynihan's astute new book, Secrecy [Yale University Press, 1998...
...Commonweal 5 January 15,1999...
...As it is, we are now the world's only superpower, but acting without great intelligence, without serious policy planning or significant political deliberation and oversight either at the White House or in Congress...
...Were Clinton to go, there would be other reasons to govern by not governing...
...Some have argued that finally all of this is Mr...
...There would be no paralysis if he hadn't had sex in the Oval Office, if he hadn't lied about it, if he hadn't covered up and misled others who testified on his behalf...
...That is a scandal and it hardly garners a headline...
...As derelict as the president has been, we doubt that his dismissal from office would free Congress to do the nation's work...
...Attention must be paid as well to the structure and functioning of government—particularly if, as the Republicans preach, we are to have less of it...
...And now, if he would just resign, Washington could get back to business...
...At home as abroad, we squander seven fat years on scandal, while the nation's and the world's real needs stand waiting for attention...
...Prosperity fosters the Republican illusion that minimal and quiescent government is good government...
...Clinton's responsibility...
Vol. 126 • January 1999 • No. 1
