[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 45 (Thursday, March 28, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3169-S3170]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE VOID IN MORAL LEADERSHIP PART IV

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, last week I began giving a series of 
speeches about the void in moral leadership in the White House.
  By moral leadership, I don't mean morality. I mean simply setting a 
good example for the American people: Being trustworthy, honest, 
candid, and so on, simple, basic values that all Americans share, and 
that all Americans expect to see in their leaders.
  Frankly, there has been a failure by this White House to set a good 
example.
  And I have been very specific about my observations, what the 
President, the First Lady and others have done, and where the good 
example broke down.
  I began this series of speeches with the words of two great American 
presidents in mind.
  The first was a pronouncement by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
  FDR said that, the Presidency is preeminently about moral leadership.
  It's not about being a good engineer or a good decisionmaker or a 
good speaker.
  It's about moral leadership.
  The second was from Teddy Roosevelt.
  He talked about the obligation we have to tell the truth about the 
President, more than any other American.
  To not do so, he said, was both base and servile.
  And so I have felt an obligation to make this observation, Mr. 
President:
  There has been a failure in this White House of setting a good 
example for the American people.
  Today, I will further support my claim.
  I will refer to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, conducted March 
14-17 of 1,512 randomly selected adults.
  In the survey, half of the respondents said they thought the First 
Lady is not telling the truth about Whitewater.
  Questions about the candor and straight-forwardness of the First Lady 
go right to the heart of my point.
  It goes beyond the issue of anyone calling anyone dishonest, or a 
liar.
  That would not be proper!
  My point is that there is a growing perception out there in 
grassroots America that the First Lady has not told the truth.
  How can the moral authority to lead survive such a perception with 
this White House?
  At this point, the most qualified outside observer of the Whitewater 
and Travelgate issues is James B. Stewart. Mr. Stewart was given access 
to sources by the White House. Mr. Stewart is also described as 
ideologically akin to the Clintons. He is a respected, Pulitzer Prize-
winning journalist, formerly with the Wall Street Journal. His bona 
fides are generally recognized as impeccable.
  On March 11, Mr. Stewart was interviewed by ABC's Ted Koppel on 
``Nightline.''
  Mr. Koppel asked the following question:

       And to those who say, has all of this investigation, the 
     congressional investigations, the independent prosecutors, 
     the time that you have spent in putting this book together * 
     * * was it all worth all the money and the time and the 
     effort and the pain?

  Here is Mr. Stewart's reply:

       I think in the end we'll find that it was--that the truth 
     is important in our society, that justice is important in our 
     society.
       I don't think you can put a pricetag on those things.
       Yes, It's terribly expensive, and at times it seems very 
     wasteful, and at times it's nasty and partisan.
       It often is a blood sport, as Vince Foster said. But why is 
     that?
       It's because the truth was never honored in the first 
     place, and I hope if there's any lesson that comes out of 
     that, that people in the future will recognize that.
  Mr. President, that is a hard punch taken at the White House.
  That truth was never honored in the first place.
  But it is a fair punch.
  It is observations like Mr. Stewart's which are having an impact out 
at the grassroots.
  The Washington Post ran a story about the new Post-ABC poll in its 
March 24 edition.
  The article was written by R.H. Melton, and was entitled, ``First 
Lady Bears the Brunt of Unfavorable Opinion on Whitewater.''
  One grocery store manager in Pontiac, MI, seems to support the 
contention of Mr. Stewart on ``Nightline.''
  The store manager, Dwight Bradford, age 27, said:

       This is something he should have settled before becoming 
     president.
       By him not taking action, the Republicans have made him 
     look a little dumbfounded.
       And if she knew something, she's been withholding evidence.
       And that is wrong for a government official.
       It makes the United States look bad.

  The Post article also showed that the Whitewater response by the 
White House is having repercussions that cut across party affiliation.
  Rouvain Benison, a Democrat, is also quoted in the story, saying the 
following:

       Whitewater is a symptom, the lack of moral leadership, of 
     moral integrity, strength, courage--all the good things in a 
     person's character.

  These were not my words, Mr. President.
  In fact, this gentleman stated the case more eloquently than I did in 
each of my speeches of the past week.
  It is a symptom of a lack of moral leadership.
  Word is getting out in the countryside, Mr. President.
  The people we serve know when their leaders are failing to lead.
  They know that moral leadership is not coming from their White House.
  Since the time of the Post-ABC survey, a new revelation from the 
White House has reinforced the perception of a lack of candor.
  I am referring to the First Lady's March 21 responses to formal 
questions from the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight.
  The subject matter was, who knew what, when, about the firing of 
innocent workers in the White House Travel Office.
  Never mind that the White House released her responses too late for 
the evening news shows to do any serious reporting.
  That is an old trick in this town.
  If there is bad news, or if you want to minimize coverage, just wait 
till the TV news shows are over to release it.
  But the real news in this story--the real news in the First Lady's 
responses--was the fueling of the perception of a lack of straight 
forwardness, of candor.
  In a 25-page response, only 16 pages of which contained actual 
responses, here is what appeared: the words ``I do not recall'' 
appeared 21 times; the words ``I do not believe'' appeared 9 times; the 
words ``I believe'' appeared 7 times; the words ``I may have'' appeared 
5 times; the words ``it is possible that'' appeared 3 times; the words 
``no specific recollection'' appeared 2 times; in one case, she reports 
``she had heard'' something, which is hearsay, yet in three other cases 
she reports merely that she had ``no first-hand knowledge''; and, the 
following phrases were used once each: ``I cannot recall''; ``he may 
have mentioned''; ``a vague recollection''; ``I do not remember''; ``it 
is hard to remember''; and ``a general recollection.''
  In other words, Mr. President, these were not necessarily totally 
forthcoming answers.
  I believe the First Lady may be totally sincere in these responses, 
as opposed to taking the advice of some clever lawyer and doing a soft 
shoe routine.
  But, given the White House's history of not being forthcoming, do you 
not see how this could further fuel the perception of a lack of candor.
  Do you not now see why honoring the truth in the first place--as 
``Blood Sport'' author Jim Stewart put it--is so important for our 
national leaders.
  Do you not now see my point about the need for our leaders to set a 
good example.
  That Washington Post-ABC poll tells me that about half the people of 
this country do not have the level of confidence they should in their 
leadership in the White House.
  In my view, Mr. President, setting the example is the most important

[[Page S3170]]

thing for our leaders in the White House.
  In that respect, I agree with FDR--who I quoted earlier--but I do not 
believe we are getting that example, and a growing number in this 
country apparently agree with me.
  It is a serious erosion of leadership and public confidence, and it 
must be restored.
  I yield the floor.

                          ____________________