|
COLUMN: Memo to Clinton: No, you can't buy me a drink
By Joshua Skolnick
Brown Daily Herald (Brown U.)
01/31/2002
Respond to this article. (U-WIRE) PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Watching the State of the Union address on Tuesday night, I experienced a fundamental change in the way I view our country. As a columnist, I spend a good amount of time gauging where we are as a country, and where we are going. Last year, I wrote a column explaining exactly why Bill Clinton was correct in stating that the State of the Union is the strongest it has ever been in his farewell speech. Today, I realized exactly what was so bankrupt and empty about that statement. Today, Bill Clinton's America was finally swept into the dustbin of history as little more than an old page from a tabloid newspaper. Like an old relationship that was shallow and based on sex, Clinton felt like nothing compared to what we have now. The America of vacillation, of two-faced explanations, of posturing and politicking, now seems to have been put to bed. The New America is an America that is confident of its values. At Brown, many, like Clinton, are lost. We may spend endless time debating values, debating what the meaning of "is" is or the various ways we can deconstruct anything that anyone says. This is all very interesting, but when it comes down to it, and I am asked what my values are, I find that they were summed up beautifully by George W. Bush. His speech made me swell with love of country, and disdain for college. That speech made me want to live in America, not at Brown. I had been duped into falling in love with Clinton's America. Bush's speech made me realize just how wrong I was. If Clinton was a womanizer (the "if" is probably unnecessary) than I am a woman. He got me. He made me think that this country's welfare was based on our sky-high stock market prices. He took me out to dinner, paid for everything, and told me that I had beautiful eyes. I was a fool not to notice the mischief going on beneath the table. We were all taken in by Clinton. Year after year, he gave the most boring, detailed, laundry-list State of the Union addresses, and yet we clung to his every word. We scoffed at critics such as John McCain, who rightly stated that Clinton conducted a "photo-op foreign policy." We collectively stared into his eyes while terrorist camps were being armed in Afghanistan. This is not to be taken lightly. Our foolishness, in part, led to our vulnerability on Spet. 11. If the Clinton Era hadn't gotten us drunk on the "good times", we could have pressured our leaders to make terror-fighting a top-priority. Instead, we woke up with our clothes off. In walked George W. Bush. On Tuesday night, he helped us put our clothes back on. He made us realize that we were more than our GDP, more than the latest tabloid. He gave us the shocking realization that this country is built on actual values. Free speech. Private property. Compassion for those who are less fortunate. Few other countries in the world with such power and prestige at their hand would actually mention, in what was the first assessment of the state of the union since a major foreign invasion, that we wanted to try to understand the peoples and the countries where this hatred is bred. The speech on Tuesday night was like a cool glass of water the morning after a frat party. You can't believe you went home with that girl, can't believe you drank so much, but you're glad to finally be back home. Unfortunately, Brown University doesn't quite feel like home. Essentially, the average Brown student is like a girl who has one bad experience with a male and then swears males off forever. When America commits one atrocity somewhere in Peru in 1979, or America is a bit too harsh on terrorists who, if not caught, would have tried to kill us, they swear off America forever. The fact is, America is a great nation. Certainly this is an opinion, but I look at the facts and feel proud of who we are, and who we are aiming to be. When I remembered my statements about Bill Clinton's last State of the Union address, it was like reading an old love letter that you sent to a real whore of a girl. The bad news is, at Brown, that girl's best friend lives next door. The good news is, now, like a guest on Jerry Springer, I've got a new man.
|
|
Advertisement
Advertisement
Top News Today...
U. California-Berkeley
Vote paves way for demise of SATs in UC admissions Dartmouth College
MIT combats campus' unusually high suicide rate Top Sports...
Oklahoma State U.
Oklahoma State suffers Bedlam defeat to Sooners Duke U.
Duke vows to take Tar Heels seriously Opinion Today...
Baylor U.
COLUMN: Statues' new clothes waste of government funds Texas Christian U.
COLUMN: Marriage cannot be forced Entertainment Today...
New York U.
NYU brothers 'do it all for the nookie' on 'TRL' Middlebury College
Former Middlebury College music scholar released from Chinese prison
|
