OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2017
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
OUR VIEW
Letter writers
give us a Callout
nstead of our normal Shoutouts and Callouts today, high-
lighted below are three of four letters we received from
readers who called out The Daily Astorian for our lack of
coverage of Martin Luther King Day on the holiday itself. The
fourth appeared in the newspaper last week. At the conclusion is
an explanation and a thought or two about public discourse on our
Opinion pages.
I
Appalled at coverage
was appalled to see no mention,
whatsoever, of the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr. in the newspaper the
day we celebrate him nationally.
When calling the editor to ask
why, his answer was that, “We only
cover local news.” Oh.
Since he was not honored in any
way by The Daily Astorian, I would
like to do so, here, now: I am for-
ever grateful for the life and work of
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
SANDY REA
Seaside
I
Needed to know
t is very disturbing that The
Daily Astorian chose to com-
pletely ignore Martin Luther King’s
birthday, a federal holiday since
1986. Most especially in these
times of great turmoil and unfet-
tered greed and violence, we borgs
out here need to know that a coura-
geous person of real faith, who elo-
quently warned us of the dangers of
the “triple evils of poverty, racism,
and militarism,” a man who gave
his life in the struggle for real justice
and equality, indeed existed on this
I
earth, and less than 50 years ago.
The deliberate omission of
even a word about Dr. King on the
federal holiday that celebrates his
life is unconscionable. It is also
frightening, because this action is at
odds with other Daily Astorians, on
other MLK Days, all through the 30
or so years I’ve been a keen reader
and subscriber. Why now?
SUSAN SKINNER
Astoria
Noticed it too
n response to Carol Hahn’s ques-
tion, no you are not the only one
to notice that the paper contained no
mention of Martin Luther King Day.
I noticed immediately. The front
page was occupied with the Coast
Guard, who are certainly deserving
of it … but on another day.
Has the new Daily Astorian
decided that Martin Luther King
Day and civil rights is no longer
worthy of mention, that these are
passé?
I noticed and it made me
wonder.
RODNEY MERRILL
Astoria
I
An explanation
As information messengers, newspapers — The Daily Astorian
included — often become targets for those who are upset with
coverage we provide, or sometimes don’t.
That’s part of our business; we accept it and the reverberations
that come with it, and know that we can easily be taken out of
context.
We aren’t perfect and we make mistakes. But we don’t do
so intentionally, or as one of the letter writers put it, “deliber-
ately” omit something we know our readers are passionate about.
We don’t get up in the morning and look for ways to upset our
readers.
Unlike other businesses, we expect to be called out now and
then, and we encourage readers to do so. The letter writers did.
We didn’t provide any stories or opinion columns in our print edi-
tion regarding Martin Luther King Day on the holiday itself. We
should have.
While we did in the days leading up and following it, we
should have done a better job of communicating within and com-
memorating Dr. King in some fashion on the day itself.
Locally, we planned to cover the region’s MLK events in the
holiday paper, as a local newspaper should. We do try and give
priority to local stories without ignoring national events that affect
us all.
No local events
Surprisingly though, and unfortunately, there were no local
MLK Day events that we were made aware of on the holiday or
during the prior weekend. None of the letters noted that or asked
why there weren’t any. We wish there had been, we would have
covered them, as we did the Coast Guard memorial service that
occurred on that weekend.
Internally the lack of coverage and subsequent response rein-
forced our need for better communication as our paper is being
planned and produced each day. We will do a better job of that and
of “marking the moment” on national matters when there aren’t
any corresponding local events.
Also, while it doesn’t mitigate our lack of coverage in print,
readers should know that throughout the prior weekend, on the
holiday and the days following, we did provide stories that cycled
through our website via the Associated Press, which all subscrib-
ers have free access to.
Martin Luther King’s messages of tolerance, nonviolence and
unity are as meaningful, important and relevant today as they were
during his lifetime of fighting for equality and civil rights.
In retrospect, we should have noted the lack of commemoration
events, and asked why there weren’t any. We hope there are events
scheduled next year, and we would encourage those who want to
express their passion for Dr. King to be involved.
As a reminder, the goal of our Opinion page is interaction, the
exchange of ideas and civil discourse. That interaction is better
served when it isn’t “over the top” and there isn’t vitriol, rancor or
“facts” that aren’t, which won’t be tolerated or published.
Trump’s foreign policy revolution
By CHARLES
KRAUTHAMMER
Washington Post Writers Group
W
ASHINGTON — The
flurry of bold executive
orders and of highly
provocative Cabinet nominations
(such as a secre-
tary of education
who actually
believes in school
choice) has been
encouraging to
conservative
skeptics of Donald Trump. But
it shouldn’t erase the troubling
memory of one major element of
Trump’s inaugural address.
The foreign policy section has
received far less attention than
so revolutionary a declaration
deserved. It radically redefined
the American national interest as
understood since World War II.
Trump outlined a world in
which foreign relations are col-
lapsed into a zero-sum game. They
gain, we lose. As in: “For many
decades, we’ve enriched foreign
industry at the expense of Ameri-
can industry; subsidized the armies
of other countries” while deplet-
ing our own. And most provoca-
tively this: “The wealth of our mid-
dle class has been ripped from their
homes and then redistributed all
across the world.”
JFK’s inaugural pledged to sup-
port any friend and oppose any
foe to assure the success of liberty.
Note that Trump makes no distinc-
tion between friend and foe (and
no reference to liberty). They’re all
out to use, exploit and surpass us.
No more, declared Trump:
“From this day forward, it’s going
to be only America First.”
Imagine how this resonates
abroad. “America First” was the
name of the organization led by
Charles Lindbergh that bitterly
fought FDR before U.S. entry into
World War II — right through the
Battle of Britain — to keep Amer-
ica neutral between Churchill’s
Britain and Hitler’s Reich.
Not that Trump was consciously
imitating Lindbergh. I doubt he
was even aware of the reference.
He just liked the phrase. But I can
assure you that in London and in
every world capital they are aware
of the antecedent and the intima-
tions of a new American isolation-
ism. Trump gave them good reason
to think so, going on to note “the
right of all nations to put their own
interests first.” America included.
Some claim that putting Amer-
ica first is a reassertion of Amer-
ican exceptionalism. On the con-
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Vice President Mike Pence, left, and White House Chief of Staff Re-
ince Priebus watch as President Donald Trump shows off an execu-
tive order Monday to withdraw the U.S. from the 12-nation Trans-Pa-
cific Partnership trade pact.
trary, it is the antithesis. It makes
America no different from all the
other countries that define them-
selves by a particularist blood-
and-soil nationalism. What made
America exceptional, unique in
the world, was defining its own
national interest beyond its nar-
row economic and security needs
to encompass the safety and pros-
perity of a vast array of allies. A
free world marked by open trade
and mutual defense was President
Harry Truman’s vision, shared by
every president since.
We are
embarking
upon insularity
and smallness.
Until now.
Some have argued that Trump
is just dangling a bargaining chip
to negotiate better terms of trade
or alliance. Or that Trump’s views
are so changeable and unstable —
telling European newspapers two
weeks ago that NATO is obsolete
and then saying “NATO is very
important to me” — that this is just
another unmoored entry on a led-
ger of confusion.
But both claims are demonstra-
bly wrong. An inaugural address
is no off-the-cuff riff. These words
are the product of at least three
weeks of deliberate crafting for
an address that Trump said would
express his philosophy. Moreover,
to remove any ambiguity, Trump
prefaced his “America first” proc-
lamation with: “From this day for-
ward, a new vision will govern our
land.”
Trump’s vision misunderstands
the logic underlying the far larger,
far-reaching view of Truman. The
Marshall Plan sure took wealth
away from the American middle
class and distributed it abroad. But
for a reason. Altruism, in part. But
mostly to stabilize Western Europe
as a bulwark against an existential
global enemy.
We carried many free riders
throughout the Cold War. The bur-
den was heavy. But this was not a
mindless act of charity; it was an
exercise in enlightened self-inter-
est. After all, it was indeed better
to subsidize foreign armies — Ger-
man, South Korean, Turkish and
dozens of others — and have them
stand with us, rather than station-
ing even more American troops
everywhere around the world at
greater risk of both blood and
treasure.
We are embarking upon insu-
larity and smallness. Nor is this
just theory. Trump’s long-promised
but nonetheless abrupt withdrawal
from the Trans-Pacific Partnership
is the momentous first fruit of his
foreign policy doctrine. Last year
the prime minister of Singapore
told John McCain that if we pulled
out of TPP “you’ll be finished in
Asia.” He knows the region.
For 70 years, we sustained an
international system of open com-
merce and democratic alliances
that has enabled America and the
West to grow and thrive. Global
leadership is what made America
great. We abandon it at our peril.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
An everyday hero retires
unset Empire Parks and Rec-
reation recently held a retire-
ment celebration for one of its very
long-term employees, Elizabeth
MacDonald. Elizabeth is, or rather
was, my supervisor until a few
days ago. I wanted to make sure
that those who don’t know Eliza-
beth realize some of the things she
has done to serve Clatsop County’s
children and residents for almost
20 years.
She started out running the day
care program at SEPRD, then she
oversaw the nutrition services, and
ended as the supervisor for the
S
After School Adventure
Program at the newly
minted Seaside Heights
Elementary School.
We love listening to
her stories of storms and
escapades that happened
a while ago, like the
flooding that occurred
in 1994, and how she
and her husband Tracy
Elizabeth
took food out to people
MacDonald
in Jewell because they
were stranded. They
serve many boards and organiza-
tions, and volunteer for causes that
are dear to their hearts.
I’ve had the privilege
to work for Elizabeth
about two years now. I
want to thank her for a
wonderful work environ-
ment, and coalescing a
team that works closely
together to have fun and
learn with our children.
I could not stand up and
say all this, but I can sit
and write it. Congratu-
lations, Elizabeth, for a
job well done.
GLADYS
KLINGERMAN
Seaside