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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, APRIL 13, 1984
PAGE 11
Political Wrench for President Reagan
The growing crisis in Central America just might be the one issue which
could hurt President Reagan's reelection chances in the November election.
Certainly his Democratic Party opponents have been quick to condemn his
policies.
The Democrats as a whole have moved far to the left on all issues, domestic
and foreign. One journalist even called the Democratic Party America's
"Labor Party," a reference to the far-left positions of Britain's opposi
tion party. Listening to representatives of this party, there is hardly an
occasion anywhere in the world in which the U.S. should use force. Morton
M. Kondracke, editor of the moderate-liberal magazine THE NEW REPUBLIC,
took the Democratic candidates to task in a column in the March 1 WALL
STREET JOURNAL:
All around the world, the Democrats have spent this campaign
season furnishing America's adversaries with lists of the places
the U.S. would not intervene in or would withdraw from forthwith
if one of them is elected.... All the candidates oppose aid to
anti-Sandinista guerrillas, even to Eden Pastora's band of
democrats. When the U.S. invaded Grenada, the first Democratic
reaction was a loud gasp, the second was a series of quib
bles....
In a Washington speech Nov. 15, [ Walter Mondale] said the U.S.
should use force only when its interests. are "clearly defined"
and the action is "congressionally sanctioned, militarily
feasible, internationally defensible [meaning approved by "world
opinion"] , open to independent scrutiny and alert to regional
history...."
The Democratic prerequisites for using force may be insurmount
able. They may give adversaries the idea that they have a free
run in t'fieworid�ich would be dangerousror us anathoie�
depena on us for their freedom. At the same time, President
Reagan's tendency to resort to military means also may be danger
ous if he is elected to a second term. No one can say that Ameri
can voters don't have a choice this fall. Unfortunately, the
choosing will be hard, not happy.
The WALL STREET JOURNAL, March 14, commented directly on America's seeming
ly self-imposed paralysis in an editorial entitled "The Nee-Isolationists":
President Reagan found himself yesterday begging Congress for
funds to resupply forces trying to beat back communism in Central
America. But as the debate by Sens. Stevens and Sasser on this
page last Friday indicated, some legislators have more pressing
concerns. They have been scrambling around the Honduran jungle
measuring the length of runways and asking whether the Army's
corrugated huts are permanent...•
Such is the legacy of the War Powers Act and similar attempts by
Congress� involve
1
tseU-in the iiiTcromanagement of foreign
policy and military affairs. The U.S. may be facing a worldwide
Soviet challenge to its political interests and influence, but