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University Daily Kansan/Friday, February 7,1992
OPINION
Rhetoric is all that President offers in State of the Union
Let me recount the latest tale of George Bush, Master Rhetorician.
Listening to Bush give his State of the Union Address the other night, arguably the most listened-to speech of the year, I concluded that the art of effective expression may be dead—or at least retired to some South Florida beach-front condo.
While Bush outlined his plan to "increase the nation's good," I tried to convince myself that Bush was just using a common-sense approach to the nation's current confusing and disturbing problem: the recession. But sometimes Bush spoke more nonsense than common sense.
in long, rambling sentences, often pausing for air and overaerger applause. Bush urged us to "remember what in the dailyness of our lives we forget," that the United States is strong and kind and can kick anybody's but including any 'ol' recession. Of course, I am paraphrasing
What wdoften forget that somebody actually writes this stuff. I wonder if they tailor his speeches toward his bumbling, rambling rhetoric and his folksy attitudes. It is kind of like being a speechwriter for Porky Pig and scripting in the stuttering.
Many parts of the speech reminded me of my high school pep rallies. The cheerleaders or football players that would stand before a bored student body and try to elicit some response. Often, when they could not say something well, they would say it loud: "WE'LL KICK RECESSION HIGH'S BUTT THIS FRIDAY."
Similarly, Bush's rallying cry was, "We are going to lift this nation out of hard times... and those who would stop us better step aside we look at hard times and I make this vow: THIS
KC
Trauer
Guest
columnist
WILL NOT STAND. "
Stirring.
And like high school. Bush still had a whole crowd booting and yapping for him, except for the Democrats who were like the freshmen, always being made fun of.
All through the speech, Bush tried to convey his sincerity with a lot of "from my heart's" and his forcefulness with an occasional "MUST END" or "MUST BESTOPPED." But there was a drought of good metaphors and imagery. When there were some metaphors, they were often awkward and isolated, such as when he off-handedly called inflation "that thief."
There was an occasional gem. "This is a fact: Strength in the pursuit of peace is no vice; isolationism in the pursuit of security is no virtue."
But here is another fact: Clarity at the expense of artful expression is no vice; continuing shallow policies at the expense of the American public is no virtue.
Bush's plan to re-toot tax-withholding policies has been called "gimmickry" by some members of his own party. And if Bush had his way, he would have the American people convinced that tax credits were the cure for cancer.
But as one great rhetorician said, "It is true that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool
some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."
Meanwhile, I think Bush wanted to convey through his address that he was this nation's star quarterback, back from one championship in the Persian Gulf, and after spending a couple of months at Disneyland, ready to fight for another here on the home field.
And while listening to our quarterback's kick-butt rhetoric, I wondered if Bush had a better mastersy over our language than a high school football player, if we might have been inspired for once. That is so rare for politics these days, once the most fertile ground for silver-tongued speakers who sowed into their speeches great words that bloomed into great ideas
Who will ever match up again with someone like Franklin Delano Roosevelt in his first inaugural address:
"Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. .. Plenty is at our doorstep but a generous use of it languages in the very sight of supply. Primarily this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure and have abdicated. .. The moneychangers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to its ancient truths."
George Bush, take your Mickey Mouse rhetoric and go back to the Magic Kingdom.
KC Trauner is a Dodge City junior majoring in journalism.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
KU parking problem persists
Unfair parking restrictions limit student access to campus lots,
threaten personal safety
The University Council will be considering in the next few weeks a proposal that would cut back student access to the parking area behind Fraser Hall. Under current policy, the area is reserved for faculty from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Students are allowed to park in the area without restrictions at any other time. However, the proposal being considered would eliminate student access until 8 p.m. That would be detrimental to student access and student safety.
Clearly, the question isn't about giving every student the right to park on campus. It is about student rights and safety. If the parking area behind Fraser were lost, it would be only one of several recent eliminations of student parking.
Most likely, there are more students driving on campus at night than faculty. What prompts the University and parking services to take student slots away?
It isn't safe, nor fair, to require students who have to drive to campus at night to park as far away as Memorial Stadium. Until campus lighting greatly improves, students
need more parking access on campus. The farther someone has to travel at night, the greater the possibility of an incident. The risk of an accident outweighs any possible benefit of additional faculty parking
Several members of the Student Senate, led by Jason McIntosh and Robert Thompson, have started a petition to address the problems of restricting parking. This action should be applauded for the activism it takes to preserve student rights. Yet, the burden should rest upon every student to take an active part in securing his rights. If students allow their parking spots to be taken away now, it will start a ball rolling that will never stop.
This year, the University reserved 7,182 parking stalls for students, according to the Parking Department. It sold 8,784 parking permits. Overselling student parking and at the same time removing parking spaces is irresponsible of the University. Until students make their voices heard, the University Council, faculty and Parking Department are going to consider student parking spaces fair game. That isn't right and it shouldn't be allowed to happen.
Female condom is good option
Stephen Martino for the editorial board
New contraceptive device has advantages over male condom in the prevention of STDs
The definition of condom is about to change. It is no longer a contraceptive device just for men. There are now condoms for women.
It may seem an unlikely concept, but the condom for women has several advantages compared with condoms for men.
They can be inserted up to two hours before intercourse. They are made with a thicker latex and therefore are more effective in preventing pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The female condom is also less likely to leak or tear.
There are also advantages for men. Supposedly, the condom will not reduce sensation because it has a looser fit than the condom for men.
The condom also gives people one more choice of contraceptive. If people have more choices, they are more likely to find the one that best suits their own needs. We hope that will lead to people using contraceptives more often.
But the most important benefit of the new condom is that it gives women more control. Although there are other birth control options available to women, such as the pill and Norplant, most do not provide protection against STDs. A diaphragm does provide some protection against STDs, but it is not effective unless properly inserted. With the new female condom women no longer have to rely on men to take the initiative.
There is one drawback. Female condoms are expected to cost $2 to $3 each. This could become costly for people who are very sexually active or deter some people from buying the condom.
Maybe the cost will decrease as the condom becomes more widely marketed or the demand increases.
But the advantages of the female condom far outweigh this disadvantage. In a time when AIDS cases have reached epidemic numbers, it is imperative that people have as many choices of contraception as possible. It is simply not enough that women have protection against pregnancy. They must also have protection against STDs. This new condom offers just that.
Amy Francis for the editorial board
International perspectives
**Saudi Gazette**, Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, on the U.N. summit:
Leaders at the U.N. Security Council summit attempted to strengthen the council's role, apparently in order to maintain the post-Cold War statusquo. Commendable aspects of their call were the desires to safeguard peace, to respect human rights and freedoms, and to guarantee the establishment of what Russian president Boris Yeltsin called "legal and moral standards." Despite China's objections, its declaration briefly mentioned the virtues of democracy.
Regardless of the details, most of the nations were willing to buy at face value the call for maintaining world peace. Any nation that swears by this slogan raises the value of its political system because no one has ever dared question the meaning of this byword ...
The trouble is that the Security Council summit will further alienate the United Nations as a free global organization. With the exception of China, four permanent veto-poweres are now aligned and Britain does not favor ... granting
Germany, Japan or any major developing country the same power.
The summit, therefore, did not succeed in giving the U.N. the new image it will need in a changing political atmosphere. The U.N. may be weakened if it becomes an extension of the foreign ministers of the four veto power nations...
The world is slipping back into the days that brought an end to the League of Nations. Post-Cold War Europe is no longer a stable continent. Widespread fear of ethnic bloodshed exists. U.N. attention has been focused on what derogatively used to be called the Third World. But peace may be threatened in other areas.
Gulf Daily News, Manama, Bahrain, on the Bush-Yeltsin meeting;
President Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin's historic first summit ... represents a turning point in the nuclear age.
Perhaps Yeltsin's idea of a global anti-mislea shield is overly ambitious, but at least the two nations are seeking sweeping arms reductions and searching for common ground.
However, the threat of a nuclear holocaust will remain real during the Cold War transition period because some nations are pushing desperately to acquire weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them.
Close international vigilance is especially needed to ensure that dangerous materials and technology do not fall into the hands of terrorists or tyrannical leaders.
But certainly the world will be a much safer place when the former Soviet Union arsenal is cut, making the threat of global nuclear war more distant at than any time in the atomic era.
The United States' determination to destroy the existing system in Cuba seems cruel and misplaced. There are many worse countries than Cuba in the world. Indeed, Cuba's social and economic indicators are far superior to many of its Latin American neighbors.
New Vision, Kampala, Uganda, on U.S.
Cuba:
Now that the Cold War is over, why not let
Cuba continue to follow a socialist road without external interference? If it collapses without a trade blockade and sanctions, then it will demonstrate the hopelessness of socialism. If it works, then we will learn that there is more than one way of running a country.
The Guardian, London, on Russias
Russia's ambitious program of economic reform — now a month old and still deprived of Western help — is looking more precarious ...
Two years ago the shock therapy applied to the Polish economy ... eliminated the long queues almost immediately and started to attract more supplies back into the shops, albeit at prices unaffordable to many people. This has not happened on the same scale in Russia.
This is mainly because Russia ... has not been given a "stabilization" program ... to finance essential imports and maintain the value of the ruble. If this doesn't happen quickly, there is a risk that hyperinflation will become endemic. Stabilization is an essential
cornerstone without which the new republics \*could face economic and social disintegration.
Gulf News, Dubai, United Arab Emirates,
on the Non-Alignment Movement meeting
in Cyprus:
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is suffering from a "crisis of confidence" due to the disappearance of the global context that gave it a well-defined, even aggressive role. The end of the Cold War has deprived the movement of the familiar no man's land, which suited it admirably, and enabled it to exploit to the fullest the rivalry between the two superpowers ...
For sometime now, the consensus among the member nations is that NAM should shift its focus from politics to economic and social issues. Throughout its existence, NAM looked more often than not as if it had been highjacked by radicals leaning toward Moscow during the Cold War era. But now it has no serious ideological disagreement as to how it should shape its future.
KANSAN STAFF
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TOMEBLEN
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JENNIFER CLAXTON Business manager
Campus sales mgr ... BillLeibengood
Regional sales mgr .. RichHarbargher
National sales mgr .. Scott Hanna
Co-op sales mgr .. Ame Johnson
Production mgrs .. Kim Wallace
Marketing director .. Lisa Keeler
Creative director .. Leanne Keeler
Classified marr .. Kim Chin
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Business Staff
JAYSTEINER Retail sales manager
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