Page 4A
East Oregonian
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
CHRISTOPHER RUSH
Publisher
KATHRYN B. BROWN
Owner
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Managing Editor
TIM TRAINOR
Opinion Page Editor
Founded October 16, 1875
OUR VIEW
Respect the road
W
e know about Cabbage Hill
in the winter.
We know about the long,
weary stretches of Interstate 84 at
night.
We know about the highways
that climb and descend the Blue
Mountains, the dusty back roads
that connect the corners of Eastern
Oregon and the busy intersections in
Hermiston and Pendleton.
As drivers, we feel aware of the
dangers that exist out on the road
in the form of bad weather, diffi cult
terrain and other vehicles.
But despite our knowledge, fatal
motor vehicle wrecks remain a
presence, month in and month out.
From Friday through Sunday, 11
people were killed in crashes around
Oregon, according to the state police.
If it had happened in one place at one
time, it would have made national
news. But the deaths are no less tragic
because there was distance between
them.
Pendleton lost Joanne Marie Norris,
a generous quilter and artist, who will
be missed dearly. Families across the
state, country and world lost loved
ones, too.
The pictures Oregon State Police
sends out after a wreck can be
diffi cult to look at, fi lled with twisted
metal, shattered glass and spilled
belongings. But crashes have serious
consequences, and it’s important for us
to understand their full toll.
In hopes of safer roads, the state
police identifi ed the “Fatal 5” — fi ve
behaviors that play a part in almost all
crashes.
• Speed: Limits can seem
constraining on the lonely stretches,
or when there are few other cars on
the road. But excessive speed not only
makes a wreck more likely, it makes it
more deadly.
• Occupant safety: From children
in the back seat to the buddy riding
shotgun, everyone should be wearing a
seatbelt and sitting facing forward.
• Lane safety: The interstates are
wide and give a false sense of security.
Be aware of which lane you’re in,
vehicles approaching from behind and
EO fi le photo
A Life Flight helicopter prepares to land on Highway 730 in March 2016 responding
to a two-vehicle collision east of Umatilla.
that you’re coming up on, and if there
are vehicles, cyclists or debris on the
shoulder.
• Impaired driving: The East
Oregonian lists all DUIIs reported by
police in our daily police log, and it’s
scary to see how many people take
to the roads above the legal limit of
alcohol or another drug. You can’t do
anything about them except be aware
and set a good example in your own
behaviors.
OTHER VIEWS
YOUR VIEWS
The Sultans of Self-Pity
M
ove over, Alec Baldwin. Bill
Clinton does a much better
impersonation of Donald Trump.
The hair is wrong but the air is right —
self-righteous, self-pitying and suffused
with anger that anyone would peddle a
version of events less heroic than the one
that he prefers. We’re
shaming him about
ancient groping when we
should be showering him
with eternal gratitude. And
what about his pain?
“I left the White
House $16 million in
debt,” Clinton said
Frank
in an interview that
Bruni
NBC’s “Today” aired on
Comment
Monday, batting back
questions about whether
he had demonstrated suffi cient contrition
for converting a 22-year-old’s romantic
idolization of him into sexual favors and
setting off a sequence of events that savaged
her.
I don’t know what legal bills have to
do with a moral ledger. But I can see that
his fi xations on money and martyrdom are
intact.
Before cries of “false equivalence” shatter
windows and startle forest creatures, I should
make clear that I’d take Clinton over Trump
in any role on any day. Trump is the Everest
of delusion and depravity; Clinton ascended
only a bit beyond base camp.
But at an honor-starved moment when
most of our politicians are quicker to shirk
responsibility than to shoulder it, I cringe at
his evasions, elisions and rationalizations.
Is he taking a cue from Trump or showing
us where Trump got some of his moves and
inspiration?
Granted, Clinton is venturing in front
of cameras this week to discuss a book
he wrote, not the book on him. So he’s
frustrated and fl ustered.
And at 71, he’s not the talker or the actor
that he used to be. Those eyes don’t mist
as wetly. That lower lip isn’t as ripe for
penitential chewing.
But hasn’t he or anyone around him, in
response to the #MeToo movement, thought
to prepare a script in which he speaks brave
and healing words about his own mistakes,
the lessons he learned and how all of us can
apply and benefi t from them?
He’s correct that he has gone through
the motions of saying that he’s sorry for
the Monica Lewinsky scandal before. But
that preceded the fall of Harvey Weinstein,
the recognition of sexual misconduct’s
pervasiveness and the damning circus of
Trump, whose allergy to apology gives
Clinton a chance to model a more generous,
better way. He sure as hell isn’t seizing it.
He grows visibly annoyed when
journalists are so petty as to bring up the
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the
East Oregonian editorial board. Other
columns, letters and cartoons on this page
express the opinions of the authors and
not necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
I don’t know what legal bills
have to do with a moral
ledger. But I can see that
his fi xations on money and
martyrdom are intact.
past and the pesky fact that he’s one of only
two American presidents ever impeached.
He raged when Craig Melvin of NBC News
breached this territory. And he promptly
turned into Trump.
He pointed fi ngers elsewhere, excusing
his own erotic exploits by insinuating that
his Oval Offi ce forebears were no less randy.
“Do you think President Kennedy should
have resigned?” he challenged Melvin. “Do
you believe President Johnson should have
resigned?” Give Clinton a break. He was
merely playing follow the libido.
He cited polls, outsourcing discernment
and judgment to the crowds. “Two-thirds
of the American people sided with me,” he
told Melvin. They thought that Republicans’
impeachment of him went too far. But
that doesn’t mean that he’s innocent — or
virtuous.
He accused Melvin of sloppy journalism,
though there wasn’t a scintilla of sloppiness
in the portion of the interview that “Today”
shared. “You, typically, have ignored gaping
facts,” he said. I myself gaped — at the
Trumpian magnitude of Clinton’s ire.
Those ignored facts were the most
ignoble part of his rant. He mentioned
how many women he had put in top jobs,
• Distracted driving: The dangers
of looking away from the road while
behind the wheel are well documented,
and laws have been put in place to
make it hurt if you’re caught. The
smart move is to download an app that
disables your phone while driving so
you won’t be tempted.
Don’t get complacent. The roads are
a dangerous place, but we make things
much better for ourselves and others if
we take them seriously.
presenting the roll call as a counterweight
to — or absolution for? — the infi delities,
the accusations of sexual harassment and
Juanita Broaddrick’s claim of rape. Does
Madeleine Albright’s ascent redeem Monica
Lewinsky’s evisceration? Was Janet Reno a
get-out-of-jail-free card?
What a queasy-making calculus. And
what foreshadowing. Decades before many
of Trump’s enablers edited out huge chunks
of his behavior to rally around his policies,
many of Clinton’s fans made a similar if less
egregious bargain.
The Venn diagram of the 42nd and
45th presidents overlaps not only where
hormones rage but also where entitlement
roars. And that entitlement is antithetical to
a world in which women get the respect and
equality that they deserve and Americans get
the leadership that we sorely need.
Clinton’s new book, a thriller written with
James Patterson, is called “The President Is
Missing.” That could also be a title for his
book tour — and for a real-time chronicle
of the Trump administration. If the president
is supposed to be someone more focused on
his obligations than on his reputation, on his
duty than on his due, then we lack one now,
and Clinton isn’t fi lling the void.
He’s warbling a tune that we’re sick and
tired of. Woe is him. Woe is Trump.
I’d tweak the lyrics. Woe is us.
———
Frank Bruni, an Op-Ed columnist for The
New York Times since June 2011, joined the
newspaper in 1995 and has ranged broadly
across its pages. He has been both a White
House correspondent and the chief restau-
rant critic.
Local Democrats inspire
state party leadership
In April I had the pleasure of meet-
ing with Umatilla County Demo-
crats, a dedicated and growing group
of Oregonians working towards pos-
itive change in November’s elections
by building grassroots programs and
raising both money and awareness
throughout rural Oregon.
Despite being outnumbered, Uma-
tilla Democrats are engaged because
they believe in Oregon values, where
we work together to care for our fami-
lies and communities. They want gov-
ernment to support economic and edu-
cational opportunities for everyone.
Sometimes they take issue with urban
Democrats, but we share the common
belief that people, not corporations, are
our most important asset.
These rural Democrats have worked
to get access to, and answers from,
Congressman Greg Walden, but he for
too long has ignored the needs of his
constituents. He now sides with cor-
porate interests and the Trump White
House — supporting irresponsible tax
cuts that now threaten funding for pro-
grams like Social Security, pushing
trade policies that risk the economic
future of our agricultural communities,
and leading the effort to “repeal and
replace” the very law that has helped
to build our rural care system. His pol-
icies are hurting us all.
Eastern Oregon Democrats have
now found a superb candidate to take
him on in Jamie McLeod-Skinner. For
the past year, Jamie has traveled tire-
lessly throughout the district, build-
ing a volunteer and supporter network
that shows what can be done without
expensive media buys. She wears her
family’s Eastern Oregon roots proudly
and speaks to those values on the
campaign trail. It’s a measure of the
respect she has earned that the other
primary candidates are now rallied
behind her campaign.
Your local Democrats are teach-
ing the wider Democratic Party in Ore-
gon lessons in how to stand up for
Oregon values and be true to the val-
ues of rural communities. I am proud
of county parties like in Umatilla and
candidates like Jamie. Expect to see
more of us in this pivotal election year.
Jeanne Atkins, chair
Democratic Party of Oregon
Portland
Hermiston graduation
should stay in Oregon
A “kick in the pants” to the Hermis-
ton School District for having the 2018
high school graduation out of state!
Jim Garrou
Hermiston
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the
newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual
services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Letters must be signed by the author and include the
city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published.
Send letters to managing editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.