Bill Clinton in Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour
On Civil Rights:
OpEd: Clinton administration has a love affair with quotas
Although quotas are increasingly unpopular with the populace--one poll indicated that 77% of blacks and 73% of whites oppose quotas--the Clinton administration continues to cherish them.
A number of truly ludicrous personnel directives have grown out of the Clinton administration's love affair with quotas. For example, the 1994 Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) performance standards for evaluating managers and supervisors included such criteria as "speak[ing] favorably about minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and others of diverse
backgrounds," "participating as an active member of minority, feminist, or other cultural organizations," and "participating in EEO and Cultural Diversity activities outside of HUD."
Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.148
Apr 25, 1996
On Crime:
1994 crime bill funded basketball instead of real problem
Among the more futile of Washington's assaults on crime are the occasional gun control bill and Bill Clinton's unfulfilled promise to put "100,000 more officers" on our streets. The 1994 crime bill is another example of federal government overspending
while refusing to tackle the real problem. This bill includes funding for basketball leagues & even issues federal requirements governing youth basketball participation. No wonder our citizens continue to feel unsafe. No wonder criminals scoff at the law
Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.120-121
Apr 25, 1996
On Drugs:
OpEd: "War on Drugs" included gum package labeling
Oddly enough, the Clinton Justice Department has seemed half-hearted in the pursuit of something that really is its duty: narcotics trafficking. Astonishingly, the Clinton Office of
Drug Control Strategy has focused on such important matters as the labeling on Royal Crown Cola and the packaging of Big League Chew bubble gum.
The feds contend that R.C. Cola's new "draft" label looks like beer and that Big League's bubble gum pouches resemble those for chewing tobacco and thus ultimately will lead children into drug usage.
This, in part, is what counts for the Clinton administration's war on drugs.
Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.121-122
Apr 25, 1996
On Education:
OpEd: "Goals 2000" came close to nationalizing education
The federal usurpation of state and local authority in the field of education continues. In 1994, for example, with the passage of a measure called "Goals 2000: Education for American Act," the Clinton administration came close to nationalizing
American education. The proposed goals, which the Clinton administration insisted were voluntary, specify levels of "inputs" or resources local schools and school districts must meet in order to receive additional federal funding. In reality,
of course, these goals are far from voluntary--if a state refuses to submit to the standards, it can lose federal dollars.While Goals 2000 may have a high-sounding name redolent of academic excellence, it could in certain circumstances
actually prevent a school from giving certain kinds of tough, scholastically oriented tests.
Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.128
Apr 25, 1996
On Environment:
Signed 1982 Law of the Sea treaty ; awaiting ratification
In March 1983, President Reagan issued a proclamation confirming American sovereign rights and control over all living and nonliving resources within 200 miles of US coasts. Reagan's actions were a sound alternative to the ill-considered 1982
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Reagan would not approve the convention. The Clinton administration, however, after some essentially cosmetic tinkering, has now signed the pact. It should not be ratified.
If the nation is to realize the full potential of President Reagan's vision, we must create a forward-looking oceans policy that recognizes our many and complicated interests. Our National Oceans Policy must ensure that we retain robust scientific
research capabilities, both in government and in universities. An appropriate oceans policy will replace the current bewilderingly fragmented patchwork of laws and regulations that prevents American firms from fully utilizing the ocean's vast potential.
Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.277-278
Apr 25, 1996
On Foreign Policy:
During Russian crisis, stood arm-in-arm with Boris Yeltsin
The future of Russia will be determined by the Russians themselves. Therefore, we favor a sober, practical view of Russia's possible future--and a US military capability to match that more realistic view. But instead of this realism, the
Clinton administration holds a romanticized view of the Russian Federation and its leadership, largely driven by the theoreticians at the Department of State. Even as Russian troops crashed the cities of Chechnya, President Clinton traveled to
Moscow to stand arm-in-arm with President Yeltsin. Such displays are contrary to the interests of spreading democracy and ties to the West within the former Soviet Union and in Central and Eastern Europe. We favor a policy that leaves no doubt in the
mind of any Russian leader that a return of Russia's imperial activity against its neighbors, or a resolution of military competition with the US, would be a tragic mistake.
Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.173
Apr 25, 1996
On Foreign Policy:
Routinely provide intelligence info to the UN
Previous administrations have, on a carefully-prescribed basis, provided US intelligence information to the UN in circumstances that clearly advanced US national security interests. These instances have ranged from revealing overhead imagery during the
Cuban Missile Crisis to information that has identified dangerous activities by rogue states, such as the weapons of mass destruction programs of North Korea or Iraq. But the Clinton administration has broken this vital nexus.
Administration officials have argued that the US must provide intelligence information to the UN even in circumstances where it does nothing to advance American national security interests, to prove to the UN that our nation can be considered a regular
and reliable source of intelligence information. This attitude dangerously treats the US as just another "consumer" of the US intelligence community, and the long-run erosion of the secrecy of our intelligence-gathering capabilities may be incalculable.
Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.235-236
Apr 25, 1996
On Free Trade:
Completed the Reagan-Bush achievements on NAFTA
The US will continue to seek cooperative trading partners throughout the world, but we will no longer accept uneven trading relationships with countries that do not grant American businesses the opportunity to compete in their markets.
The Clinton administration has attempted to "talk tough" on trade policy, but its actions have sent mixed signals to the world.
Inevitably, the results have been lackluster, apart from completing the Reagan-Bush achievements on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Uruguay Round.
Where trading partners continue to build barriers to open trade, the US must use the World Trade Organization, NAFTA, and domestic laws to insist on the rights of our exporters and domestic interests.
Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.171-172
Apr 25, 1996
On Homeland Security:
OpEd: Counterproliferation failed; Iran got nuke from Russia
The administration's performance in the export control arena belies its commitment to counterproliferation--especially on the critical issue of achieving a successor regime to the Coordinating Committee on Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM). By putting
into place an effective multilateral control regime over the export of critical nuclear, munitions, and dual-use technologies to the then Soviet Union, Warsaw Pact, and China, COCOM was instrumental in asserting the economic and technological pressure
that helped accelerate the breakup of the Soviet empire.The Clinton administration developed a scheme to dismantle COCOM and replace it, in 1994, with a new counterproliferation regime. Although the administration has criticized COCOM as being "based
on Cold War principles", there is serious question, with existing US leadership, whether any effective control regime will ever emerge. Indeed, Moscow's sale of nuclear reactors to Iran shows exactly how meaningless the new system is.
Source: Agenda For America, by Haley Barbour, p.242-243
Apr 25, 1996
Page last updated: Dec 12, 2018