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Jon K. Rust

Jon K. Rust is publisher of the Southeast Missourian and president of Rust Communications.

WASHINGTON WATCH: CLINTON CAN'T SHAKE IMAGE OF INEPTNESS

Friday, September 23, 1994

President Clinton is reportedly discouraged about how his Haitian policy is being reviewed."The president does not understand why so many newspapers are criticizing him," an unidentified White House official told National Public Radio. "He feels he deserves praise for avoiding a military invasion." Another official points to the bump in the president's popularity as the result of the agreement with Haitian General Raoul Cedras, suggesting that news columnists and editorial writers are out of touch.It is a curious argument for a president who authorized a military invasion of Haiti over the opposition of 70 percent of the American people -- only to be saved from actually carrying it through by a free-lancing Jimmy Carter.The White House is right on one thing, however. The criticism of Clinton's Haitian policy has been devastating. Except for a sprinkling of positive comments praising Clinton for sticking with his invasion threat if the military junta did not step down, most observers criticize the president for failing to make a clear decision:either to invade and clean out the thugs who have brutishly ruled the country for three years or to step away completely, recognizing that no vital interests of the United States are at stake in this troubled and violent part of the Caribbean. Almost all -- those who praise and those who criticize -- fault the president for creating his own problem in the first place. To give you a sense of the atmosphere in Washington, I have put together a brief tour of the commentary found in the capital's most widely read newspapers since American troops began landing in Haiti. I have tried to include both positive and negative reaction, although, admittedly, even the good stuff sounds bad for the president.

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