Clinton Uses Church Burnings To Talk About Future

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, June 26) -- In his most recent campaign appearances, President Bill Clinton has used the imagery of two torches to talk about the nation's spirit and future.

One is the torch that thousands of runners are carrying across the country, in preparation for the start of the Olympics in Atlanta on July 19.

The other is an instrument of destruction, used to burn churches across the South.

"You've got to figure out which torch America's going to be identified with," Clinton said this week at a New York City fund-raiser. "These are the decisions I ask you to make sure we make in November."

The irony, of course, is that the president, in a careful way, is doing exactly what some Republicans accused him early on -- campaigning on the issue of church burnings.

In New York, Clinton attributed the church burnings to "the extreme behavior of some people" who believe that people of other races or religion "are basically lower than they are in the human food chain."

Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole has used some torch rhetoric of his own to frame the fall race with Clinton.

"The question the American people must decide is, how has the flame been kept these last four years? Should the torch be passed to a new president who knows a better way," Dole said.

But Clinton for now has the advantage over Dole in showing signs of compassion over the church burnings. He visited a black congregation in Greeleyville, S.C. that was burned out of its church and rebuilt and has spoken about the need to restrain hateful impulses. Dole, so far, has not matched that appearance, and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson said that's significant.

"I'm amazed Mr. Dole hasn't been to a burned church," Jackson told the Associated Press. "They haven't shown any sympathy. That, in itself, is a political statement."

When House Majority Dick Armey accused Clinton of jockeying for a photo-op at Greeleyville, one Republican thought he went too far. Jack Kemp said the party risked looking like "grumpy old men," concerned about whacking Clinton every chance they got.

Clinton Uses Church Burnings To Talk About Future

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