Wednesday, January 31, 2001
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Wednesday, January 31, 2001 |
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Observations on a plethora of goings on By DAVE HAMRICK So much to write about, so little time ... Dubya seems to have settled into the White House nicely and is setting about doing the things he said he would do. Even got himself a Senate Democratic cosponsor for his tax cut plan right off the bat. Zell Miller is no fool, and knows that having his name attached to a big tax cut will insulate him against opposition down the road. It'll be very tough for some Republican opponent to stick the liberal label on him after this. Interesting the way Democrats are attacking some of Bush's appointees. Generally, the president is supposed to get the people he wants unless someone has been caught doing something unseemly. And these days, there's not much left that fits that definition. But Kennedy et al are going after some of the team because they are too conservative. Bush said he would reach out to all sectors, they say, and yet he has appointed some people they don't like. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't "all sectors" include conservatives? It's like they've drawn a line down the middle and said, "OK, you can have anybody whose views are dead on center, and anybody to the left of that, but if you get anybody from the right of that, you're being divisive and extreme." Get ready for two years of similar reasoning. Here at home, the flag issue seems to have resolved itself with amazing speed. I supported the idea of changing the flag, and I don't have any problem with the one they came up with. (It's currently Friday, and I'm assuming the Senate will approve the new flag before this column goes to print). I'm just a little uncomfortable with the way the change was waltzed in and out the door without so much as a bow to the orchestra. Not that I'm blaming Gov. Roy too much. His blitzkrieg with the new flag wasn't good statesmanship, but it was downright brilliant politics, and possibly necessary. Kind of like when the nurse distracts a child with candy so she can yank the splinter out real fast. She's over the pain before she notices that it hurt. (By the way, I owe Rep. Kathy Cox an apology. Our story last week unintentionally left the impression that minority leader Rep. Lynn Westmoreland was mad at her for voting for the new flag. He wasn't. His concern was for the speed with which the bill was moved.) Regardless how we feel about the flag issue, most of us are aware that in today's world black people wield a lot of economic power, and if we want to stay in the economic game as a state, we need to not excuse the expression wave a flag in the faces of a large percentage of our people. Still, if the governor can ram something like this through without the proper debate and deliberation, he can do it with issues that have much more far-reaching effects. As for the civil rights activists who brought this up in the first place, don't look for them to go gentle into that good night. They are professional protesters, and they will always find something to protest ... it justifies their existence. Next on the agenda will be attempts to remove the miniature version of the old flag with the Confederate emblem on it from the state flag, and to get the battle flag removed from all public places, including Confederate monuments and cemeteries. Many of us who were sympathetic when it came to the state flag will not be so when it comes to other uses of this piece of history. And on that score, you might want to watch the dance of former Ambassador Andrew Young and state Rep. Tyrone Brooks on future issues. Those who knew the Rev. Hosea Williams say that he and Dandy Andy frequently played "good cop/bad cop" on issues, with Williams playing a crazed bomb thrower and Young playing a more reasonable activist, stepping in to restore sanity to the debate. It's widely thought that Brooks has taken Williams' place as "bad cop." That's exactly how it played out on the flag issue, with Young making speeches about how other issues were more important and Brooks constantly threatening boycotts. It will be interesting to see if we get more of the same pick 'n' roll as time goes on.
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