Newsroom: (541) 346-5511
Suite 300, Erb Memorial Union
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403
E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online: www.dailyemerald.com
Monday, April 19,2004
-Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Jan Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
E EDITORIAL.
President
balks when
questioned
on mistakes
In his first prime time press conference in more than a year,
reporters grilled President Bush with questions about the war
in Iraq — where 700 American soldiers have died since the
beginning of the war, as of this weekend — and whether his
administration satisfactorily responded to warnings that fore
shadowed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Laced with what CNN.com somewhat pejoratively
dubbed the "usual mix of misspoken words and grammatical
conundrums," Bush's less-than-succinct but generally ade
quate responses tackled reporters' rough questions, often me
andering into soliloquies about national security, meeting
with fallen soldiers' families and the like and usually returned
full circle.
For example one reporter asked, 'Two and a half years lat
er, do you feel any personal responsibility for Sept. 11 ?" Sev
eral sentences into his reply, Bush discussed the importance of
the inter-agency synergy that the Department of Homeland
Security enables, saying 'The hearings will show that the PA
TRIOT Act is an important change in the law that will allow
the FBI and the CIA to better share information together."
While providing context is important discussing the issue
of personal responsibility for a great tragedy is a poor mo
ment to advertise an ethically dubious law that restricts civil
liberties.
Still, Bush's (rare) prime time appearance brought to the
forefront some important points previously buried under a
health of conjecture and stock phrases.
At least one remark was particularly disturbing. A reporter
asked about the August 6, 2001, presidential daily briefing:
"You pointed out that it did not warn of a hijacking of air
planes to crash into buildings, but that it warned of hijacking
to obviously take hostages and to secure the release of ex
tremists that are being held by the U.S. Did that trigger some
specific actions on your part in the administration, since it
dealt with potentially hundreds of lives and a blackmail at
tempt on the United States government?"
Bush's short answer is no, provisionally: The PDB indicated
that "bin Laden might want to hijack an airplane but, as you
said, not to fly into a building but perhaps to release a per
son in jail," he explained. Bush said that the threat concerned
him, but "Frankly, I didn't think there was anything new." By
contrast Bush assured us, "Had I had any inkling whatsoever
that the people were going to fly airplanes into buildings, we
would have moved heaven and earth to save the country."
But the mention of a threat of hijacking a plane and using
hundreds of civilian travelers as blackmail didn't deserve that
same attention? Was the specific mention of such a dastardly
plan, even if it wasn't specific, worth any less heed because
Bush had heard of the threat before?
In any case; at least one question caught the president off
guard: A reporter asked, "In the last campaign, you were asked
a question about the biggest mistake you'd made in your life,
and you used to like to joke that it was trading Sammy Sosa.
You've looked back before 9-11 for what mistakes might have
been made After 9-11, what would your biggest mistake be
would you say, and what lessons have learned from it?"
A surprised Bush admitted, "I wish you'd have given me
this written question ahead of time so 1 could plan for it."
Unable to come up with an answer Bush admitted, "I don't
want to sound like I have made no mistakes. I'm confident I
have"
But this inability is probably the most dangerous revela
tion of the conference If Bush isn't familiar enough with the
ramifications of his own policy decisions to identify which
were poor ones, how can he learn from those mistakes?
Worse what does that ignorance mean for future decisions?
EDITORIAL BOARD
Brad Schmidt
Editor in Chief
Jan Tobias Montry
Managing Editor
Travis Willse
Editorial Editor
Jennifer Sudick
Freelance Editor
Ayisha Yahya
-NewsEditor.
Steve Baggs Illustrator
tsAcMad
"One hundred Chicken McGrills
served" just doesn't have the same ring to
it as the old hamburger slogan of Mc
Donald's. It's ironic that a company that
prides itself on the number of hamburg
ers served is now trying to add as many
non-hamburger options as possible to
the menu.
The change has come around for the
same reason that most companies alter
their strategy: lower profits. With a surge in
the health-conscious portion of the popu
lation and a scare of mad cow disease, Mc
Donald's has decided to change its ways.
There have been various lawsuits brought
against "Mc-e-dee's" in which people
claim the restaurant is responsible for their
obesity. And to top it off, the award-win
ning film "Super Size Me" was released,
documenting the 25-pound weight gain of
a man who ate three McDonald's meals a
day for a month.
Well, it seems it can't get much worse,
and by 'it' I'm referring to the food at Mc
Donald's, not its situation. As I've grown
up, I've watched the eatery go downhill,
but it may have hit its low point when it
announced the introduction of the adult
Happy Meal.
I never go to McDonald's for gourmet
healthy fcod. It's cheap, fast and the same
low quality at every location. That's the
beauty of chain restaurants: You know
what you're getting. But the problem is, I
don't even recognize the menu at McDon
ald's today.
As a child I loved to go for the Happy
Meal. My parents' attic is still full of my
Happy Meal box collection. Today, chil
dren have to make do with a paper bag. All
those toys I collected, which are also
packed away, were discovered to be chok
ing hazards, so the prize isn't even as good
as in the old days.
Did you ever like getting those McDon
aldland cookies, shaped like Grimace and
the Fry Guys? Gone They've been replaced
with desserts like Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfaits
and reduced-fat ice cream cones. Not to
mention, 1 lamburglar andcompany have
Marissa Jones
Cry me a river
been replaced with Willie Munchright, a
little Claymation boy who gives children
healthy eating tips. For some reason, Gri
mace's purple complexion never scared
me, but Willie looks like a human and his
purple skin makes me wonder if maybe he
doesn't need a little more sugar in his diet.
The merry-go-round, the Grimace you
could jump inside and shake about and
the Fry Guys you could ride on like rock
ing horses are all gone. Instead, ball pins
and tunnels, all made of plastic, sit out
front. You can't help but be glad you were
a child back in the days of loose safety
standards.
Besides the loss of the iconic charac
ters, the menu has lost some good items
and has seen the arrival of some really
bad ones. The apple pies are now baked
instead of fried.. Then there was the ad
dition of the McSalad Shaker. What a
smart idea: Salad in a cup. I once wit
nessed a rather large construction worker
eating one of these. He was trying ex
tremely hard to shake the cup so that the
salad dressing spread throughout, just
like in the commercial. His violent ac
tions made him look like one of those
machines that shakes up paint at the
hardware store. Talk about a healthy
menu item. It has less fat, and you bum
calories just preparing it!
Some people have criticized McDon
ald's for offering mosdy unhealthy food,
and contend that the fast food giant has a
responsibility for the health of its cus
tomers. It doesn't take a lot of common
sense to realize eating a Big Mac three
' times a day is probably not good foryour
health, but no one ever said people have
common sense. Instead the message being
sent is, "I am too stupid, too cheap and too
lazy to drive anywhere else besides Mc
Donald's, so it needs to change, not me."
That's a great manifesto to follow in life.
Here's another idea: Take responsibility for
your own actions.
We have sold ourselves short in life
and now are looking for someone else to
blame. McDonald's seems like the per
fect scapegoat, and its way to react was
to treat adults like children because that
is how they are acting. Now it'll be serv
ing adult Happy Meals, complete with a
salad, bottle of water, a toy (a pedome
ter that measures how many steps you
walk) and an informational pamphlet
promoting exercise. Well, are we all hap
py now?
Congress recently passed the "Cheese
burger Bill" prohibiting lawsuits against
fast-food chains that claim they cause
obesity. It is sad when the government
has to start making laws because its citi
zens think they can (and do) sue if some
thing doesn't go their way. The fun of the
playground and the Happy Meal toys is
gone because of the threat parents will
sue the restaurant if their child gets hurt.
In reality, the greatest danger posed to a
child at McDonald's is probably getting
hit by a car in the parking lot. Maybe we
should just learn to be responsible for
our children and our diet?
McDonald's isn't the same as it used to
be. It's unfortunate. In-N-Out Burger has
stuck to the basic philosophy of serving
hamburgers, fries and shakes. It has had
great success, with Diet Coke being the
healthiest thing on its menu, but unfortu
nately, McDonald's went a different route.
The last time I was "lovin' it" at McDon
ald's was when I saw Humongousize Fries
on the menu in Texas. Things just aren't
how they used to be
Contact the columnist at
mariss4i0nes@dailyemerald.com.
Her opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald..