The Political Interest: Is It Time for Him to Go?

• Share

(2 of 2)

WALTER MONDALE. The former Vice President and current U.S. ambassador to Japan is a cool, straight-talking pol. During his losing race against Ronald Reagan in 1984, Mondale resisted promising what he knew or suspected he couldn't deliver. Clinton needs to learn what Mondale seems to know instinctively: disaster haunts those whose rhetoric doesn't match reality. On North Korea, a Mondale-inspired policy would probably avoid any further "public blue-skying about U.S. options," says Leslie Gelb, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. "What's needed there now is a forthright expression of our goal -- the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula; an articulated willingness to trade improved relations and economic assistance as the means to get the North to play ball; a sternly delivered reminder that we stand by our pledge to defend the South -- with the specifics left purposely vague; and then an intense but completely private diplomacy." For tasks like those, Mondale fills the bill. He is exceptionally well disciplined and has the standing to ensure that everyone reads from the same script -- and shuts up when told to.

COLIN POWELL. The former Joint Chiefs chairman is a long shot, but he would bring instant credibility and remove a possible 1996 rival to the President. Powell is as risk-averse to military adventures as Clinton is, but that could be a strength. Given his background and especially his command of Desert Storm, Powell alone may possess the stature necessary to make diplomacy work when the President's primary objective is to avoid the use of force.

A shift at State may be clever and helpful, but in diplomacy as well as in baseball, it's the manager who sets the tone. The players can make the President look good, but only if he sets the goals and pursues them resolutely. If he doesn't, the losses, both real and perceived, will mount. Before long, that weakness could spark a crisis that dwarfs Bosnia, Somalia and Haiti -- a crisis that the evidence so far indicates Clinton would bungle miserably.