LETTERS

ELECTION 96

Bill Clinton took a verbal licking, kept on ticking and won by a landslide [ELECTION 96, Nov. 18]. He ran an optimistic campaign focused on the future. Bob Dole ran for the title of Meanest Man in America. The outrage backfired on Dole. Ross Perot ran a super-paranoid blitzkrieg assault. Character assassination and hate politics must not be utilized as tactics to win an election (period). Campaign-finance reform is needed, and campaign-hate reform too. President Clinton will lead America forward into the 21st century with a lot of hope, vision and dreams for a better nation for all! JAY RANDAL Ormond Beach, Florida

The most interesting aspect of this election is that Clinton in effect established a new party--one that appealed to the current moderate instincts of most Americans while offering hope for women, nonwhites and the growing bloc of people who feel "disadvantaged." And the Republicans didn't have a clue about how to counter this agenda. The election result was a foregone conclusion. JAMES P. FENTRESS East Granby, Connecticut

Bubba Clinton fooled us once; shame on him. Now he's fooled us twice; shame on us. JIMMY C. REED JR. Oxford, Mississippi

Like him or not, the "Comeback Kid," William Jefferson Clinton, is undoubtedly one of the century's greatest politicians. Many were prepared to write his political obituary after the Gingrich Revolution. But Clinton has handled himself with grace and dignity despite constant criticism during his tenure as President. He is proof that character can be shaped not only on a wartime battlefield but in political wars as well. BETH E. CECIL Fort Pierce, Florida

For the first time in our nation's 207-year history of presidential elections, less than 50% of voting-age Americans cast ballots. In receiving almost 50% of the votes cast, Bill Clinton managed to capture only 24% of the voting-age pool, hardly a serious mandate. If ever a statistic reflected Americans' disenchantment with their government, this is it. Sadly, most Americans view the system as broken. Worse, they see little or nothing they can do to fix it by voting, so they stay home in droves. It is small wonder that voters put a Democrat in the White House and Republicans in control of Congress. We call it damage control.

What does this bode for the electorate? Unfortunately, it means more of the partisan wrangling and posturing that so many of us have grown to loathe. Only in Washington is it fashionable to suggest, "If it's broke, don't fix it," and find that advice being taken literally. BILL GEMAR Gila Bend, Arizona

Say what you may about Bill Clinton's character--which has been the focus of two unsuccessful Republican attempts to keep him out of office--no one can argue that he hasn't brought the American people back to some traditional Christian values. For example, he has asked us to forgive him not seven times but 70 times seven times--and for some reason, we have. MICHAEL AMATI Ithaca, New York

This election result had less to do with who was the better campaigner and more to do with an American electorate that has had enough of the game for now. For many years, the American electorate has asked the Federal Government to "get out of our way, please." And since the government didn't listen, we took matters into our own hands. Although the turnout was light, the politicians can read between the lines. You see, we've hired a lame-duck President and a Republican Congress, each of which is unwilling and unable to work with the other. The bottom line is a government that we "put out of the way, thank you!" At last we can expect what we want from the Federal Government: nothing! Well done, folks! I guess if we want something done right, we have to do it ourselves. TONY COST Elko, Nevada

You failed to highlight in your article on the '96 presidential election and accompanying statistics one important comparison and disturbing outcome. While you presented the popular vote as a percentage of the total, you did not do the same for the Electoral College. President Clinton captured 50% of the popular vote but a distorting 70% of the Electoral College vote. Each single popular vote Clinton received was worth 40% more in the Electoral College vote than those of his opponents. His victory was not an overwhelming mandate; almost half the voters did not support his re-election.

It is time to reassess the process by which America votes for its leader. The current system distorts our candidates' priorities, objectives and motives and the narrow political, geographic and economic issues they tackle. We cannot ask ourselves why voter turnout is so low if we do not have a system in which each and every vote truly is equal. BENNETT SHULDMAN Moscow

At this point I don't care who won the elections. I am glad that I don't have to listen to all the commercials on the radio and television anymore. Now if the people who put up all the campaign signs in front of their houses and along the roadway would take them down, the nation would be prettier. If the candidates put all the money spent on the campaign toward the national debt, the nation would be well on its way to being debt free. JOANNA REAGAN Pepperell, Massachusetts

How can we maintain and promote democracy in the face of diminishing voter participation? An obvious step is to simplify the mechanics of voting. It has become too complicated and time consuming, both in understanding the issues beforehand and in casting a vote. Being locked into a certain place to vote or the complications of absentee balloting are still obstacles. For the 57 years we have been married, my wife and I have exercised our voting privileges, rain or shine, but we were sorely tempted this election to forgo that right. The numerous propositions and initiatives, the widely differing backgrounds and experience of the candidates and their claims and counterclaims were intimidating. If we don't increase voter participation, we are heading down the path to autocracy! WILLIAM A. DIXON San Jose, California

Let's be honest. twenty-four percent of eligible voters actually pulled the lever in favor of Bill Clinton. America hasn't seen such limp support since Madonna's Wonderbra was stolen. PAT HESTER Olathe, Kansas Via E-mail

GOING BY THE NUMBERS

If the president is looking for a mandate from the people [ELECTION 96, Nov. 18], your exit polls show an obvious one: 83% of black voters voted for Clinton, while only 12% voted for Dole; females also decided overwhelmingly for Clinton. The mandate is clear: gender issues and race relations must not only be dealt with in a serious mindset but also be discussed much more thoroughly. SAM RAMSEY BAHARVAR Ithaca, New York Via E-mail

The accuracy of the exit polls--at least as the networks do them--is getting scary. The next logical step seems to be to refine the polls further so that results can be predicted by early afternoon on Election Day, rather than having to wait until evening. And I foresee a day in the not-too-distant future when there will be no need for most of us to vote--an "exit- poll sample" will do it for us. Our representative government will be chosen through "representative elections." DONALD E. LINDMAN Lansing, Michigan

COLOR THE FIRST WOMEN

Your photo of the first family for "Our Journey Is Not Done" [ELECTION 96, Nov. 18] speaks more than a thousand words. Whoever chose to dress these two beautiful women in earthy, drab brown had to have done so with the sole intent of blending them into the background so that the President, in his bright tie, would be in the foreground. Is this the message that the Administration wishes to convey to women, that their role in "building a bridge to the 21st century" will be in the background? Whoever chose to put a joyful 16-year-old and her vivacious mother in that dreadful clothing should be covered in sackcloth and ashes. ROBERT W. WHITE London

THE MESSAGE STRATEGISTS

"Masters of the Message" is must reading for the electorate [ELECTION 96, Nov. 18], especially if Clinton's type of campaign (neuropersonality polling, etc.) becomes the norm. The voters must understand how politicians wantonly manipulate, psychologically massage and rhetorically swindle us to achieve their goal, which is to win at all costs. HELEN GADE GANT Utica, New York

What your article suggests about the strategists who make and sell political messages is deeply unsettling. Every word, every move, especially the policy decisions made by President Clinton during the 1 1/2 years preceding the election, was scripted by his re-election managers. The narrative brings into question some basic issues of the President's professional integrity. Can we believe that Clinton is capable of thinking on his own? GLADYS GIFFORD Buffalo, New York

Kudos to time for its informative Election Special, particularly Richard Stengel and Eric Pooley's page turner, "Masters of the Message," and Peggy Noonan's analysis of the Dole campaign. Not only were both pieces riveting, required reading but they, perhaps inadvertently, revealed just how far we have sunk as a society: our leadership panders to polls so shamelessly that the word verges on becoming meaningless. GERARD M. CORRIGAN Arlington, Virginia Via E-mail

I found your story on election masters to be a fascinating insight into the contemporary election process. Sadly, it showed how in this age of instant communication, the masters of the campaign seemed to turn the political process upside down. Pretesting ads is bad enough, but pretesting speeches for content and wording before delivery--even the State of the Union address--is mind boggling. Isn't the President supposed to give us his assessment of the State of the Union, not tell us what we think it is? Wouldn't it be nice if we had a process in which the candidates would tell us in their own words what they actually think in their own minds would be proper for the nation?

Then, once the candidates who were successful, and thus hired, were on the job, it would be nice for a change if they would listen to what the people said and act as if they heard us. That's the time for the pollsters to tell the politicians what the people want--after elections, not before them. ZALE SMILACK Atlanta Via E-mail

REPUBLICANS FOR CLINTON

I would like to thank the Republican Party for its inestimable assistance in re-electing President Clinton [ELECTION 96, Nov. 18]. After the landslide loss in 1994, only the astounding dislike--from sea to shining sea--for the Speaker of the House of Representatives kept Bill Clinton's re-election campaign from being dead in the water. When stocks shot up more than 96 points the day after the election, it was because Wall Street celebrated the prospect of at least two more years of bipartisan constraints on the government's spending habits. RICHARD AMUNDSON Augusta, Georgia

Here is a list of people responsible for the re-election of President Clinton: Alfonse D'Amato, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh and Kenneth Starr. These individuals were so completely blinded by their vindictiveness toward the Clintons that they failed to see the oncoming backlash that prompted voters to overcome their reluctance to put the fox back in the henhouse. LARRY NEAL Jerseyville, Illinois

BUCKLEY'S ROLE

Your postelection coverage included several incorrect statements about me as Bob Dole's campaign communications director [NOTEBOOK, Nov. 18]. You reported that I never met with Dole after the Republican Convention and that he believed I had leaked information to the media.

The facts are that despite Dole's being on the road throughout the autumn, I met with him on at least nine occasions after the convention. And your reporters surely can testify that while I plumbed, I did not leak. You also claimed that I was the author of a "strategy" for Dole to attack the New York Times. On the contrary, I consistently counseled restraint in making the media an issue in the campaign. I hope you will set the record straight on these matters. JOHN BUCKLEY Washington

PUKKA GENTLEMAN

In her analysis of why Dole never caught fire [ELECTION 96, Nov. 18], Peggy Noonan misses the point. After a lifetime in Congress of promoting more and more taxes to cut the deficit, Bob Dole's talking about a 15% tax cut had about as much credibility as George Bush's saying in 1992 he would never agree with the Democrats to another tax increase: none. DONALD THORSON Alexandria, Virginia

Republicans like Noonan just don't get it. In blaming the messenger, Dole, she ignores the fact that it was the message that people didn't like. Dole lost the election before the primaries ever began because of Gingrich's initial mean budget and his shutdown of the government when he couldn't get it past a courageous President. The assault on Medicare lost it for Dole, and the fact that the Democrats won Florida and especially Arizona with their large elderly populations should be a warning to all politicians to leave old people alone! DAN OLIVIER Bullhead City, Arizona

Another four years of grandiloquence is the choice of the American people. What a pity that a pukka gentleman like Bob Dole, who has been remarkably honest and reliable over the past three decades, should fail against someone who merely talks a lot. JOHN SMITH Hong Kong

Noonan asks, "Could any Republican have defeated the Great Conniver?" She answers that she thinks so and goes on to describe this individual. These are easy statements to make without actually identifying one or two of these super-candidates. JOSEPH FARRAH Millbrae, California

TELEPHONE EXTENSIONS

I believe MCI and British Telecom's $21 billion megadeal is only a prelude to global competition in the telecommunications industry [BUSINESS, Nov. 18]. This merger is one of the Big Bangs in the history of a once monopolized market. Because of huge feasibilities, many other companies will follow suit. This trend will absolutely be good for customers, because head-to-head competition will mean lower prices and better customer satisfaction. TAKUYA MORIMOTO Higashiosaka, Japan Via E-mail

BENAZIR BHUTTO OUT AGAIN

My salute to president Farooq Ahmad Kahn Leghari for courageous, politically wise and timely actions in dismissing Benazir Bhutto from office [WORLD, Nov. 18]. With a quick move, he staved off a civil war and possible takeover of the government by the military, thereby preserving whatever is left of democracy. We hope he neutralized any designs by foreign nations to meddle in the internal affairs of Pakistan. We also hope he avoided any showdown with the U.S. government that might prompt sanctions by the Congress concerned over a pretext of derailing the democracy. Ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her family should be thankful to the President for giving them a chance to be heard by the court and by the voters in the near future. Who knows--she may even get a third opportunity to rule and be dismissed. MOHAMMAD HAKEEM KHAN Tampa, Florida

The masses of the only Muslim atomic power in the world are in a miserable condition. Billions of rupees must still be spent on February 1997 elections, further deteriorating their lot. There is no hope for improvement in the near future. TAUFIQ AHMAD MUFTI Peshawar, Pakistan Via E-mail

BIGOTRY AT TEXACO

In your article on the bigotry at Texaco [SOCIETY, Nov. 18], you quoted political scientist Andrew Hacker as saying bigots would make the kinds of remarks they did "only when they feel very, very sure of their company." It has been my experience that bigots--racial and otherwise--usually assume that people who are in their company feel the same way they do. Men who tell sexist jokes are always incredulous when another man objects; white men who use racial slurs are astounded when another white person objects; and anti-immigration zealots are shocked when a fellow American doesn't share their view. Narrow-minded, inconsiderate and intolerant people seldom consider that their opinions may not be held by all others in their circle. This is all the more likely when the bigot in question is the boss. BOB COLLINS Bedford, Indiana

It seems you have convicted Texaco of widespread discrimination because of a tape recording. Do you think the "black radicals" at Texaco celebrating Kwanzaa would make better managers? Despite the leftist Supreme Court rulings of the late 1960s and '70s, federal laws based on such rulings and the further unconstitutional garbage by leftist federal judges, the 14th Amendment does not, nor was it ever intended to, guarantee integration or jobs for nonwhites. It has been degraded into a perverted system in which minorities demand special recruitment, mentor programs, hiring advantages and even promotions. All problems, including crime and low grades, are easily blamed on the "white male oppressor," not on less ability. The media and government not only accept this concept but foster it. Any company with "too few blacks" is subject to a suit. What about better-qualified whites who are discriminated against daily in the hiring practices of the government and many large corporations?

Who is suing on their behalf? As soon as one black sues, other blacks join in for a piece of the extortion pie. This must be stopped. I now clearly understand why corporations decide to relocate their operations overseas. JOHN MARCONI Akron, Ohio

If Texaco executives are found guilty of felonious destruction of evidence, would not justice be served by sending them to several years of community service in Zaire? JAMES W. NELSON Venice, Florida