U.S. Politics: Is Bush Getting a Free Ride?

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BILL CLINTON HAS ENDURED A MERciless beating on his way to the Democratic nomination. The Arkansas Governor has been grilled on marital infidelity, draft dodging, pot smoking and conflicts of interest, and the going may get even rougher if he faces George Bush in the fall campaign. Clinton has talked himself hoarse trying to explain his way through the thicket of nettlesome questions and get back to discussing the political and economic issues that he hopes will help him topple an unpopular incumbent. All he needs is a level playing field, say Clinton's aides; but so far, they complain, Bush has been spared the relentless probing that has kept their man off balance. "It's been all double standard," fumes one campaign insider. "Our guy gets slammed and Bush escapes the same kind of scrutiny."

Have the press and the public been giving Bush a free ride? Yes and no. It is true that he has not been subjected to the same intense glare as his opponent, but sitting Presidents rarely are. While challengers can spring from nowhere with nothing more than ambition on display, Presidents are far better- known quantities. Bush, who has already served 11 years as President and Vice President, is a more familiar figure than most incumbents. On the other hand, Bush has been questioned over the years on a number of sensitive issues -- ranging from his family's business dealings to his role in the Iran-contra scandal.

Most of the charges leveled at Bush in the past have been short on evidence; many are irrelevant to his conduct as President. But as the campaign intensifies, the Democrats will surely see to it that old and new barbs are hurled in his direction. And if some of them stick, it won't simply be because they call into question Bush's character. It will be because four years in the White House have transformed Bush's carefully managed image as a square- shouldered Dudley Do-Right into something closer to the Flimflam Man.

Many of the familiar claims against Bush are off target. It is doubtless embarrassing to the President to hear his brother Prescott questioned about his work for West Tsusho, a firm with ties to the Japanese criminal underworld. But it is wrong to think that such activities tell us any more about George Bush's character than the shenanigans of Billy Carter told us about Jimmy's. On the contrary, the thin quality of these brother's-keeper charges may actually have underscored the perception that the President has uncommon good sense.

More damaging -- but still largely beside the point -- are suggestions that because Bush's children were involved in business deals that required federal bailouts, Bush is somehow to blame. There is little doubt that the Bush children have shown appalling judgment in business matters. Neil Bush became a national symbol of the S&L debacle in 1988 when he served on the board of the Silverado Banking, Savings & Loan Association, a Denver thrift that went bankrupt and then cost taxpayers $1 billion to recapitalize. Silverado's problems had worsened after Neil Bush and other directors approved bad loans to a businessman who had invested in Neil's oil-exploration firm. The inexperienced 30-year-old should have guessed that his partners might have wanted only to use his famous name as collateral.