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FIRST THE BAD NEWS THEN THE GOOD
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I keep saying here that I won’t try to write about politics because I don’t know any politicians anymore, but that doesn’t mean I can’t write about the news of the day, into which politics continually intrudes. I know sports is more important and show business is more fun, but at the same time the media has to give George Bush and others a little space for people like me to pounce on. Put politics and crime together and you really get my attention. That’s how I came to focus on the curious incident of Mr. Sandy Berger in the fileroom of the National Archives.
Mr. Berger, who was President Clinton’s National Security Advisor, visited the Archives to prepare for an appearance before the 911 Committee investigating the anti-terrorism activities or lack of same on the part of the Bush and Clinton administrations. Finding documents from his tenure of office that didn’t reflect well on the Clinton regime, he stuffed them in his briefcase, down his pants, in his pockets and allegedly even in his socks, after which he left the building without recording the removal of the papers. He stole them, in other words.
This month he pleaded guilty to thievery of top-secret material and in a plea bargain got off with a $10,000 fine, removal of his security clearance for three years, and a promise to cooperate with investigators, i.e., tell them who sent him to cop the papers (Don’t bet on that one). He got no jail time.
This was the same sort of thing for which Gordon Liddy was sentenced to twenty years in federal prison in the Watergate days. Not only that, but the five men who went into the Watergate building with him, none of whom had criminal records, carried any weapons, harmed anyone or removed any property from the premises, got forty-year sentences. At that time the average sentence for homicide in New York, and probably Washington, was four years. The media unanimously supported this outrage and the judge, Sirica, was named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year. Only the ACLU broke ranks on the left to condemn Sirica’s promise of a revised sentence to anyone who “confessed”. They thought it smacked of coercion. Do tell.
Watergate’s history now, but no one who lived through it can help being reminded of it by Mr. Berger’s little caper. The media doesn’t mind keeping it alive either, celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of President Nixon’s resignation with commemorative programs last year. The only one I would have watched would have been one where Liddy presented his theory that his burglary of the Democratic Party headquarters was ordered through cutouts by John Dean to remove evidence there of his wife’s involvement in a prostitution ring serving the party. Liddy got his facts from two books by investigative reporters “Silent Coup” by Len Colodny and Robert Gittlin (St. Martin’s Press 1991) and “Secret Agenda” by Jim Hougan (Random House 1984). I’ve read them both with avidity.
Liddy did almost five years jail time, a good bit of it in solitary confinement, until finally sprung by Jimmy Carter, who recognized a miscarriage of justice when he saw it. The whole thing is a fantastic contrast to the treatment of Mr. Berger. It looks a lot like he had been given some kind of assurance before he carried out his larceny practically in the presence of the keepers of the Archives, whose job it was to protect them against people like him.
Berger’s misadventure points up the existence of a certain atmosphere of desperation on the liberal side of the current ideological wars. After larceny, forgery was resorted to in the Dan Rather case, and then assaults on speakers on college campuses, namely Ann Coulter, Patrick Buchanan, William Kristol and David Horowitz. Obviously this comes of frustration induced by loss of elections, bad weather, organic food, non-polluting containers, ideological contradictions, marital discord, unfavorable polls, and a general sense that things are not as you would have them be.
As for me, I’ve commented sufficiently on the news story that intrigued me the most lately. I know a lot of rappers shot each other, some movie stars got divorced, some athletes built themselves up with illegal substances, some executives cooked their books to make profits out of losses, some politicians took free trips they shouldn’t have, some building inspectors signed off on buildings that soon collapsed, some cruise ships made all their passengers sick, all the houses in California were buried in mud or burnt out by forest fires, tsunamis were expected daily on the East Coast, and many other regrettable things took place. All I can think of is the guy with the secret papers stuffed in his socks.
There is some good news here and there. It comes from the Bronx, where I grew up, which is now a place notorious for crime and poverty and the conditions you might expect to find as a result. No wonder that when I tell people that growing up there was actually an enjoyable experience in a healthy atmosphere in the middle of the Great Depression, they look at me funny. All I can do is to appeal to my witnesses, most of them people I didn’t know, but who were neighbors nevertheless and whose experiences echoed mine. Here’s some of them from the Stratton Park History Pages, the website commemorating the old neighborhood:
“I feel very fortunate to have grown up there”.
“Growing up there was an experience I’ll never forget. We always left our
door open and were one big happy family”.
“Best times of my life, with great friends”.
“Christmas was wonderful”.
“Wonderful memories…”
“Best childhood in the world”.
“What great times!”
“Grateful for the privilege of living there…”
There you have it. The voice of the people. They can’t all be wrong. There will be more of this. Read the website and you’ll see the old place is actually becoming famous.
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