1991_12 The Daily Collegian December 1991

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Opinion
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The Diiily Collegian • December 6,1991
2*
The Daily Collegian
Editor in Chief
Jana Bollinger
Managing Editor
Shannon Wentworth
News Editor
Krista Lemos
Copy Editor
Debbie Richards
Graphics Editor
Claire Anselmo
Photo Editor
Steve K.Skibbie
Sports Editor
Lori Ash
Staff Writers
Heidi Burkhardt, Stacey
Dennehy, Manny Fernandez,
Aimee L. Fisher, Tricia
Geringer, Yu Ting Huang,
Michelle Martin, Renie
Ruelas, Kimberly Wright, Syed
Zaheer
Sports Writers
Chris Cocoles, Dave Donnelly,
Dan Evans, Richard James
Staff Photographers
Angel de Jesus, Kyndra Gean
News Aide
Renie Ruelas
Columnists
Frank Aviles, Bruce Brenna,
Michael S. Handorf, Cyndi
Mc Collister
Contributors
Hit Sin, Erin Yasuda
ArtSpeak Editor
Jason Terada
Business Manager
Khalid Rashid
Advertising Manager
Brenda Marie Whitla
Advertising Production
Manager
Lance Jackson
*
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by
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George Bush and 'brother' Johnson
By Bruce Brenna
On Tuesday George Bush
fired his chief of staff, John
Sununu. Unfortunately for
George, that won't help him.
The problem is not the people,
ifs the policy. What Bush needs
to do is open up his closed mind
and look at the country. Or
maybe what he needs to do is
read a little history.
In 1967 another incumbent
president Lyndon Johnson, was
having problems. The war in
Vietnam was raging and the
domestic economy kept sliding
further into a hole. Johnson's
popularity, although high earlier
in the year, was now slipping.
He faced a challenger who was
eating at the "base' support of
Johnson's landslide election in
1964. Johnson tried all he could
to regain momentum but, alas, -
he could not.
On March 12,1968 Johnson
barely defeated Eugene Mc¬
Carthy in New Hampshire by
49.6 percent to 41.9 percent in a
race he should have won easily.
After all, the polls showed
Johnson with a 50 percent lead
over McCarthy just six weeks
earlier. Nineteen days after the
New Hampshire embarrass¬
ment only a few more before a
possible defeat in another
primary, President Johnson
withdrew from the presidential
race. .   »
What is so striking about the
Johnson Presidency of 1967-68 is
that Bush seems to be following
along the same lines. George's
popularity has dropped and a
shadow is quickly approaching
from behind.
When he defeated Mike
Dukakis by a comfortable
margin in 1988, Bush counted on
the conservative wing of his
party to push him through. To
ensure conservative support he
promised, "Read my lips, No
new taxes" and selected Dan
Quayle, a real conservative, as
his running mate. The conserva¬
tives were considered Bush's
strong electoral 'base.' No matter
what Bush's popularity was they
would continue to support him.
I'm sure Bush was advised: just
don't upset the your 'base'.
But because of the huge tax
increase in 1990, the civil rights
bill Bush just signed, the sliding
economy, and lack of effort for a
capital gains tax cut the conser¬
vatives are beginning to look
elsewhere for a candidate in
1992.
Along comes a fellow
Republican, Pat Buchanan, with
a strong conservative pro-
American appeal. Buchanan has
taken Bush's 1988 election base
away. Next week, Buchanan will
announce, in New Hampshire,
that he is entering their primary.
Pat is already drawing support
from conservative groups that
went with Bush in 1988. Remem¬
ber, Bush and Buchanan will face
each other in a primary of only'
Republicans, and conservatives
have more 'efficacy' (the
motivation to vote) than
moderates do.
It was only six months ago
that George Bush's popularity
was over 80 percent This past
weekend a CNN/Time maga¬
zine poll showed Bush's
popularity at 47 percent But
whaf s more startling; is when
those same people were asked
whether or not they believed Mr.
Bush was doing a good job on
the economy only 29 percent
said 'yes.' This is down 20
percent from two months earlier.
The people think Bush is doing
nothing about the economic
recession we are in and the
numbers reflect it.
But how does Bush respond?
I don't know, he's waiting to tell
us until his State of the Union
address at the end of next   \
month. By that time Mr. Bush's
approval on the economy, if it
keeps dropping at its present
rate, will be in single figures. I
don't think Mr. Buchanan will
mind that type of help at all.
To top it all offj#»e economic
advisors to the President, Dick
Darman and Micheal Boskin,
stated a couple of days ago the
economy won't pick up for the
next few months. If the
President's own men are saying
this in public, can you imagine
what the reality is?
The signs of problems are all
there, plain as day, and firing
Sununu will not change a thing.
The President needs to plan a
course of action and proceed
quickly. Unfortunately, George
rides around in his golf cart and
says the problem is the people
are not spending money. He
refuses to believe that he has
done anything wrong, but the
conservative wing of the
Republican party knows better.
The mistakes of the Bush
Presidency become more
apparent to the country each
day. The sinking of George's
popularity tells us that. But if he
can't read the writing on the wall"
and take some action maybe he
is doomed to repeat history. The
history of Lyndon Johnson's
presidency.
Mr. Brenna is a columnist for Tbe Daily
Collegian.
Letters to the Editor
Students are being screwed by budget cuts
Is it me or is it becoming ex¬
tremely difficult for students to
register for classes that do not
begin at sunset or sundown? This
semester over 100 courses were
dropped due to budget cuts. Next
semester more of the same is ex¬
pected. Not only are students
faced with less classes to choose
from next semester, but tuition
will also be increased. I realize
that our state government is trying
to reduce the enormous deficit it
faces. That is why, even though it
hurts a little, I don't mind paying'
a little extra for my education. But
when they choose to raise tuition
and cut classes, that's when we as
students have to say enough is
enough.
rortuna >ely, for all the students
on this campus, I have the solution
to our problem. All we have to do
is increase the number of classes
professors on this campus should
teach and reduce the salary that
librarians on this campus receive.
By doing these two simple things,
we might not be able to avoid the
tuition increase, but we can avoid
the number of courses being cut
With all due respect to all the
professors on this campus,
teaching three classes, three days a
week for the duration of fifty
minutes each class is not going to
cut it, considering the financial
problems our school is facing. The
average professor on this campus
makes about $60,000 a year. Over a
period of thirty-two weeks or two
semesters, this averages out to be
about $1,875 a week or $208 a *
lecture. I don't know how the. rest
of <he students on this campus feel,
but I've been at this school for
three years now and I have yet to
her a professor give a lecture that
is worth $208.
I suggest that it be mandatory
for all full-time professors to teach
five classes a semester. This could
easily be managed by teaching
three classes on Monday, Wednes¬
day and Friday and two on
Tuesday and Thursday. I know the
poor professors are going to have
to work at least six hours a day.
But that's too bad. After all, almost
all other jobs require a least eight
hours of work a day.
My second solution to the
budget crisis that this school is
facing is to reduce the wages that
librarians on this campus receive. I
wonder how many people on this
campus know that some librarians
make just as much, if not more,
money as professors at this school.
Let's be honest what do librarians
actually do? Well, they give tours
of the library and on occasion help
students find information that...
they might need. But lef s be
realistic, their skills and talents are
not worth $60,000 plus a year. I
suggest that instead of cutting*; .
classes, we cut down on librarians'
salaries.
It is apparent that the only
people that are getting screwed by
the budget cuts are the students.
And I'm personally getting tired of
all this administrative bullshit! I
guess that the state government
has forgotten that the reason we
build educational institutions is so
people can get an education. I also
think our administration has
foigotten that if it were not for
students we would not need
professors, and we would
certainly not need librarians!
Name withheld
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