 |
|
|
|
||
|
<% dim printurl
printurl = Request.ServerVariables("URL")%>
|
|
April
10, 2002, 9:00 a.m. By Jaime Sneider |
|
enator Tom Daschle
told students at Columbia University this past Friday, "America became
a very different place" on Sept. 11. Emphasizing the upheaval that
had occurred, the Majority Leader said the terrorist attacks were analogous
to the Kennedy assassination. The event revealed, however, Sept. 11 was
neither a "watershed," as Daschle had claimed, for his generation
or my own.
Scarcely little could be heard about terrorism beyond acknowledgement that the world was dramatically different now. Daschle did not utter a single statement about Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar, or Saddam Hussein; a solitary peep about Hezbollah, Hamas, or al Qaeda; a lone word about Lebanon, Iraq, or Iran; and a scant comment on Prince Abdullah, the Arab League, or the Axis of Evil.
So what pressing issue of the day did manage to consume Daschle's attention, if not the everlasting consequences of thousands murdered? Attacking Republicans, of course. Indeed, only after Daschle had commented on the alleged dire consequences of following the Grand Old Party's policies on the environment, education, welfare, and tax cuts did the war on terrorism garner his attention beyond some pithy introductory remarks.
That's right, the war is his fifth priority. And even after stumbling upon terrorism's horrifying details, he found them hardly worth dwelling upon. The subject of international relations quickly changed to the fight against AIDS in Africa, his attention then turning to the need for larger foreign-aid packages.
Only after he had completed his speech was the subject of Israel and the West Bank even broached — by a student who, during the question-and-answer period, very directly asked the senator's opinion. Daschle's response was not reassuring. He dealt with this conflict, as well as others, within the confines of old paradigms. Lamenting that President Bush had not followed Bill Clinton's example in the Middle East, Daschle even charged, had President Bush engaged in politics like the former president, the current mess would not exist.
Further, though many politicians, including George W. Bush, have argued for a need to monitor those residing in the U.S. on student visas, Daschle expressed no qualms over the fact that several hijackers had penetrated American borders, disguising themselves as students. Indeed, he remarked, if anything, the U.S. needs more international students.
That Daschle's priorities remain virtually untouched by the events of Sept. 11 won him the support of my peers, many of whom, were astonishingly unmoved by an eyewitness look at the Twin Towers crumbling last September.
Introducing the senator, Ashley Bell — president of the College Democrats of America — spoke of the need to shift focus from the "right fist" of America's "military might" to the "left fist" of America's "humanitarianism." When he made these remarks, he was applauded and cheered by hundreds. A general consensus seems to have emerged, among the politically active at Columbia, that the war is on par with any other political issue currently at the forefront.
When Daschle paid lip service to the notion that America had forever been changed, his sparse comments reflected an understanding of American opinion, not his own personal views. The greater priority he still conferred to domestic issues, and his continued insistence in addressing conflict throughout the world with outdated methods and policies, reveals that nothing about his political views has fundamentally changed.
Daschle and my peers hold the opinion that all conflicts may be resolved by careful negotiation. In their minds, violent disputes only arise when two or more groups abandon diplomacy. This belief illustrates the degree to which they have failed to comprehend the meaning of Sept. 11, which revealed more than any other event in memory that sometimes groups of people have differences that can only be settled in war.
— Mr. Sneider is a senior at Columbia University.