OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2016
More damned emails inlict injury
Founded in 1873
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
Who will maintain
the Park Service?
re America’s national parks being loved to death? The
watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental
Responsibility has implicitly asked the question for years. In its
current issue, the Christian Science Monitor raises the question
explicitly.
The CSM’s report focuses growth in visitor count, the
on the high visibility crown Park Service is innovating.
jewels of the park system – Koenen says that Muir Woods
Yellowstone and Yosemite. near San Francisco, has cre-
Their visitor counts are ated an new advance parking
astounding.
Yellowstone reservation system, to elimi-
receive more than 4 million nate its chronic trafic conges-
visitors last year. Total visitor tion. Yellowstone is working
count at all parks in the system toward a similar solution.
this year will be equivalent to
For all of its phenomenal
the U.S. population.
growth in visitor count, our sys-
Our local crown jewel, tem of national parks remains
Fort Clatsop and the Lewis a haven for the nation. The
and Clark National Historical Western writer Terry Tempest
Park saw 270,519 visitors. The Williams told the Monitor:
park’s visitor trend has been “Our national parks are breath-
trending upward for years.
ing spaces in a country that is
The Monitor notes that increasingly holding its breath”
America’s system of national Williams just produced a report
parks is “chronically under- on her visit to a dozen Park
funded.” In the most visited Service sites – The Hour of
parks, that shows in trail sys- Land: A Personal Topography
tems and other facilities that of America’s National Parks.
are deteriorating from deferred
We cannot expect Congress
maintenance. Fort Clatsop’s to do the right thing and give
interim
superintendent, the Park Service adequate
Marcus Koenen, says that is funding. Thus the system will
not the case here.
have to use ingenuity to main-
In the face of inexorable tain its quality.
A
We must do more
to help foster kids
O
regon’s foster care sys-
tem for children in the
midst of family crises is in
serious trouble. Oregon Public
Broadcasting has been shining
a bright list at problems with
foster care and inding situa-
tions that demand redress.
This is no new thing. OPB
reported “cracks in foster care”
ive years ago. But by almost
any reckoning, things have
gotten worse. There are hun-
dreds fewer foster care beds
in Oregon this year compared
to last. Kids sometimes have
to spend nights in state ofices
and motel rooms, with a cou-
ple state workers detailed to
watch them.
How did we get to this point?
First, there was an under-
standable nationwide switch
away from state-run institu-
tions for neglected, endan-
gered and abandoned children,
toward what was viewed as a
more benign system of hous-
ing children in family homes
where foster parents received
state compensation in return
for providing a semblance of
home life.
Oregon foster parents
receive a base rate of $575
to $741 a month per child,
depending on the child’s age.
There is signiicant additional
compensation to help deal
with special needs and cir-
cumstances. All in all, pay-
ments are not transparently
unfair.
Some, and perhaps even
most, foster parents aren’t in
it for the money, but welcome
the chance to be a savior to
kids in need. So why do fewer
and fewer participate? In part,
our culture has changed. Most
modern families have only
one or two children. In such
small settings, foster children
can necessitate major changes
in “household chemistry.”
This means most contempo-
rary families won’t even con-
template joining the foster care
program.
Those who do may ind
themselves weighed down by
bureaucracy that is viewed as
essential in today’s abuse-con-
scious and litigious society.
It’s becoming clear in
Oregon and throughout the
U.S. that we must develop
and fund alternatives to tra-
ditional foster care. The
Oregon Department of Human
Services and the Legislature
must confront this issue head
on. We must do a better job
of caring for children who are
having the worst time in their
lives.
By CHARLES M. BLOW
New York Times News Service
ollowing
last
week’s
Republican calamity in
Cleveland, the Democratic
National Convention rolls into
Philadelphia on Monday with big
opportunities and big challenges.
F
Many Democrats will come
with enthusiasm, but also with
reservations.
Unlike the Republican Conven-
tion’s speaker lineup, which was
backilled with Donald Trump’s chil-
dren because there were so few party
heavyweights to anchor it, the Dem-
ocratic Convention will have a lit-
any of A-listers: The president, the
irst lady, Bernie Sanders and former
President Bill Clinton among them.
These speakers will paint a vastly
different picture of the country and
its future than the unremittingly dark
and dangerous one portrayed by the
Republicans.
There will also likely be less acri-
mony in Philadelphia, as the Demo-
crats review the failed stagecraft of
Cleveland and work hard not to rep-
licate it.
But, all is not roses for the
Democrats.
The presumptive presidential
nominee, Hillary Clinton, has a bat-
tered image — partly due to a con-
certed effort by Republicans to bat-
ter it, and partly the result of her own
poor choices. Two-thirds of regis-
tered voters don’t believe that she’s
honest and trustworthy, and trust-
worthiness is one of those attributes
that tends to be dificult to quickly
and easily alter.
Clinton’s honesty numbers are
even worse than Trump’s, but not by
much. They both have some unbe-
lievable negatives. As The New York
Times reported earlier this month:
“In a development not seen in
any modern presidential contest,
more than half of all voters hold
unfavorable views of the two major
party candidates and large majori-
ties say neither is honest and trust-
worthy. Only half of voters say Clin-
ton is prepared to be president, while
an astonishing two-thirds say that
Mr. Trump is not ready for the job —
including four in 10 Republicans.”
But, being about as bad as Trump
is hardly a good thing. Trump is a
horrible candidate who shouldn’t
have a shot, but in this race he does.
Although Clinton remains the favor-
ite to win in November, the race is
too close for comfort. There are
paths to victory — uphill though
they may be — for Trump to win.
(Just typing that sent shivers
down my spine. The idea that a man
who used a racist attack on a judge
in one of his own cases might get to
pick the next one — or even two or
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., marches during a protest in
downtown on Sunday, in Philadelphia. The Democratic National Con-
vention started Monday in Philadelphia.
three — Supreme Court
pletely fair to Sanders.
justices is in itself unfath-
This was reignited in
omable. The fact that he’s
the conversation last week
even competitive makes
when WikiLeaks released
me question the electoral
nearly 20,000 internal
competency of America.)
emails from the Demo-
Too many voters ind
cratic National Commit-
themselves in the worst
tee in which some oficers
possible position: They
expressed antipathy and
have a choice between a
outright hostility to Sand-
Republican of whom they
ers and his candidacy.
Charles
are frightened and dis-
No matter whom one
Blow
gusted and a Democrat
supported during the
of whom they are leery
primaries, or even
This
and unenthused.
what party one aligns
Last week Clinton
with, this should turn
kind of
had a chance to shake
the stomach. This
up the race with her collusion is kind of collusion is
vice-presidential pick,
precisely what is poi-
but instead she chose
precisely soning faith in our
the safer route, choos-
politics.
what is
ing the Democratic
This reinforced the
centrist Tim Kaine.
feeling of many that
poisoning the system was rigged
Kaine has his vir-
tues — he is solid and faith in our from the beginning.
affable, a solid liberal
CNN reported on
from the crucial state
Sunday
that in the
politics.
of Virginia — but this
wake of the scandal,
is not the sort of pick that taps into the tainted party chairwoman, Deb-
the progressive populism sweeping bie Wasserman Schultz, agreed to
the party or the expansive diversity step down from her role at the con-
that constitutes the party.
clusion of the convention.
Kaine
reinforces
Clinton’s
But the injury is already inlicted.
“steady hand” message, but that is
These leaks further damage an
a message, however valid and nec- already damaged faith in the Demo-
essary, that’s completely devoid of cratic nominating process. In March,
sizzle.
the Pew Research Center found:
Trump is campaigning on fear,
“Forty two percent of Republi-
change and winning, all intense and can voters have a positive view of
even seductive ideas, even though the primary process, compared with
his proposals are insular, unrealis- 30 percent of Democrats. The share
tic or hollow. “Steady” just doesn’t of Democrats expressing a posi-
have the same emotional appeal. tive view of the primary process
And although I hate to boil a historic has declined 22 percentage points
election, and monumental policy (from 52 percent) in February 2008.
challenges, down to emotions, I’ve Republicans views are little different
been around long enough to know than in 2000 or 2008.”
that this sort of visceral sensibility
What are those Democratic vot-
can swing elections.
ers supposed to do who don’t trust
The Democrats also have to deal the candidate, the party or the pro-
with the resurgent idea of a primary cess, even if they view The Donald
process and party apparatus that as the Devil? This is one of the con-
favored Clinton and wasn’t com- vention’s conundrums.
Cleveland notes: The two-part rebellion
By CHARLES
KRAUTHAMMER
Washington Post Writers Group
ASHINGTON — The
main purpose of the mod-
ern political convention is to
produce four days of televised
propaganda.
W
The subsidiary function, now that
nominees are invariably chosen in
advance, is structural: Unify the party
before the inal battle.
In Cleveland, the Republicans
achieved not unity, but only a rough
facsimile.
The internal opposition consisted
of two factions. The more lamboyant
was led by Ted Cruz. Its irst operation
— an undermanned, underplanned,
mini-rebellion over convention rules
— was ruthlessly steamrolled on Day
One. Its other operation was Cruz’s
Wednesday night convention speech
in which, against all expectation, he
refused to endorse Donald Trump.
It’s one thing to do this off-site. It’s
another thing to do it as a guest at a cel-
ebration of the man you are rebuking.
Cruz left the stage to a cascade of
boos, having delivered the longest sui-
cide note in American political history.
If Cruz fancied himself following Ron-
ald Reagan in 1976, the runner-up who
overshadowed the party nominee in a
rousing convention speech that pro-
pelled him four years later to the nom-
ination, he might relect on the fact that
Reagan endorsed Gerald Ford.
Cruz’s rebellion would have a
stronger claim to conscience had he
not obsequiously accommodated
himself to Trump during the irst six
months of the campaign. Cruz rein-
forced that impression of political cal-
culation when, addressing the Texas
delegation Thursday morning, he said
that “I am not in the habit of support-
ing people who attack my wife and
attack my father.” That he should feel
so is not surprising. What is surprising
because “everyone is equal,
is that he said this publicly,
everyone has a place” and
thus further undermining
“no one is written off.”
his claim to acting on high
principle.
Not exactly Trump’s Man-
The other faction of the
ichaean universe of win-
anti-Trump opposition was
ners and losers, natives
far more subtle. These are
and foreigners (including
the leaders of the party’s
judges born and bred in
congressional wing who’ve
Indiana).
offered public allegiance to
Together, McConnell
Trump while remaining pri-
and Ryan made clear that
vately unreconciled. You
if Trump wins, they are
Charles
could feel the reluctance
ready to cooperate. And if
Krauthammer
of these latter-day Marra-
Trump loses, they are ready
nos in the speeches of Sen-
to inherit.
ate Majority Leader Mitch Obama
The loyalist (i.e., Trum-
McConnell and House
pian) case had its own stars.
won’t It was most brilliantly pre-
Speaker Paul Ryan.
McConnell’s pitch, as
sented by the ever-lu-
sign. ent
always, was practical and
Newt Gingrich, the
direct. We’ve got things Clinton best natural orator in either
to achieve in the Senate.
party, whose presentation
won’t of Trumpism had a coher-
Obama won’t sign. Clinton
won’t sign. Trump will.
and economy of which
sign. ence
Very speciic, very instru-
Trump is incapable.
mental. Trump will be our
presidential nom-
Trump inee Vice
enabler, an instrument of the
Mike Pence gave an
governing (or if you prefer,
will. affecting, self-deprecat-
establishment) wing of the
ing address that managed
party.
to bridge his traditional conservatism
This is mostly fantasy and rational- with Trump’s insurgent populism. He
ization, of course. And good manners managed to make the merger look
by a party leader obliged to maintain smooth, even natural.
a common front. The problem is that
Rudy Giuliani gave the most ener-
Trump will not allow himself to be the getic loyalist address, a rousing law-
instrument of anyone else’s agenda. and-order manifesto, albeit at an
Moreover, the Marranos necessarily excitement level that surely alarmed
ignore the most important role of a his cardiologist.
president, conducting foreign and mil-
And Chris Christie’s prosecuto-
itary policy abroad, which is almost rial indictment of Hillary Clinton for
entirely in his hands.
crimes of competence and character
Ryan was a bit more philosophical. was doing just ine until he went to the
He presented the reformicon agenda, audience after each charge for a call-
dubbed the Better Way, for which he and-response of “guilty or not guilty.”
too needs a Republican in the White The frenzied response was a reminder
House. Ryan pointedly kept his gen- as to why trials are conducted in a
ulections to the outsider-king to a courtroom and not a coliseum.
On a cheerier note, there were the
minimum: exactly two references to
charming preambles at the roll call
Trump, to be precise.
Moreover, in defending his con- vote, where each state vies to out-boast
servative philosophy, he noted that at the other. Connecticut declared itself
its heart lies “respect and empathy” home to “Pez, nuclear submarines and
for “all neighbors and countrymen” … WWE.” God bless the United States.