Tuesday, November 16, 2004

by Andrew Quinton
Gazette Reporter

Peter Deutsch ’79 (D), representative of Florida’s 20th district in the House of Representatives, kicked off the Heard on the Hill lecture series last night in SCI 101. He spent the bulk of the discussion answering audience questions about his political past, his recent failed run for US Senate, and the state of the Democratic Party.

“I’m a Swarthmore success story,” explained Deutsch to kick off his speech before telling the story of how he arrived at the College not knowing what he was interested in, taking classes in a variety of fields, and eventually majoring in psychology. But it was a class on American foreign policy with Professor James Kurth (who was in the audience) that really got Deutsch interested in what governments can do. He spent his senior year in the basement of McCabe, looking at government records and finding that many people in government agreed with him that OPEC needed to be broken up. Current President Jimmy Carter did not have that view, but Senator Ted Kennedy did, so Deutsch went to work on the ill-fated Kennedy presidential campaign. After completing this story, Deutsch announced that his speech was over and that he would now answer audience questions. Naturally, there were quite a few.

Several students were interested in how Deutsch managed to get elected to a Florida state House seat at the age of 25 and enter the US House only 10 years later. Deutsch noted that quite a few Congressmen are elected at that young of an age but also explained that he ran for US Congress in a newly created district so he didn’t have to run up against the incumbent advantage. But he did face several noted local politicians, and to make himself known, he made it his goal to meet every voter in his district. “The most important thing in politics is to be seen as a nice person,” he said.

Deutsch explained the results of the recent election by saying that many voters simply had no idea who John Kerry really was. They may have agreed with his policies and may not have been huge fans of George W. Bush, but they couldn’t vote for somebody they couldn’t connect with. Deutsch criticized Kerry’s choice to go windsurfing off of Cape Cod with the press in tow, as such a thing did not endear him to the rural and middle-class swing voters who ended up deciding the election. The Congressman referenced Bill Clinton as an example of a Democrat who knew how to build coalitions and bemoaned the lack of a Clintonesque figure in the current crop of Democratic candidates.

Deutsch then discussed his failure to gain the Democratic nomination in his bid for a Senate seat this year. “I ran an okay campaign, not a great campaign,” he admitted, and explained that he began with low name recognition compared to his competitor and also ended up with far less money to spend. He noted that he gave up his Congressional seat to concentrate on the Senate run and will no longer be serving in the House. In closing, he cautioned Swatties that as much as we may believe in the wonders of the Enlightenment and find born-again Christianity to be a strange idea, most of the country identifies with the latter concept.

The “Heard on the Hill” series will continue on November 29th with Senator Carl Levin ’56 (D-Michigan).

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In yesterday’s Gazette, the meeting time for the Unitarian/Universalist group was incorrectly reported as 7:00 p.m. on Saturdays. The correct time is 7:00 p.m. on Sundays.

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* The White House formally announced Colin Powell’s resignation as Secretary of State on Monday. Powell told reporters that he would “always treasure the four years [he] spent with President Bush and with the wonderful men and women of the Department of State,” adding that he believes they have “accomplished a great deal” in that time. Also Monday, the White House announced the resignations of three other Cabinet Secretaries: Ann Veneman of Agriculture, Rod Paige of Education, and Spencer Abraham of Energy. According to CNN, senior administration officials are saying that, pending congressional approval, National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice will be promoted to Secretary of State and her deputy, Stephen Hadley, will take her job at the NSC. In conversation with journalists, Powell listed the war on terror, the consolidation of Afghanistan, the insurgency in Iraq, and the rapidly changing situation in Israel and Palestine following the death of Yasser Arafat as the major challenges currently facing the State Department.

* According to a report by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has not diverted any declared nuclear material for military purposes. However, the Agency remains concerned about the possibility of activities with undeclared nuclear material. The report follows the announcement of a new deal between representatives of France, Britain, Germany, the European Union, and Iran on Sunday in which the Iranian government agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment program by November 22 and would allow inspectors from the IAEA the ability to monitor compliance. While officially Iranian officials voluntarily agreed to the decision to address concerns in the international community about the possibility that the country was seeking to build nuclear weapons, some diplomats say the agreement was reached thanks to a promise that in return the matter would not be referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

* Little Rock is gearing up for the dedication of the $165 million Clinton Presidential Center and Library this Thursday. 30,000 invited guests are expected for the ceremony, including both Presidents Bush, President Carter, former Senator John Glenn, Bono, and Aretha Franklin. The city of Little Rock will focus on Clinton for an entire week, with a symposium on Clinton’s impact on race relations, celebrations of his role as governor of Arkansas, film festivals, art exhibits, and many other events.The construction of the library has caused a boom in development in downtown Little Rock, with over $800 million in related new development since the selection of the site. Skip Rutherford, director of Clinton’s nonprofit foundation, believes the library will be the first in a new tourism-driven model and could see as many as 300,000 visitors per year, twice the number at other presidential libraries. Information on the library, including photos of the project, can be found on its website at: http://www.clintonpresidentialcenter.org/.

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Living Wage Panel Discussion
Kohlberg 115, 4:15 p.m.

Philip Everson lectures: “Football and Politics: Modeling Yes-or-No Questions”
Scheuer Room, 4:30 p.m.

Feminist Film class screenings: “Fire” and “Nice Colored Girls”
LPAC Cinema, 7:00 p.m.

Self-defense class
Kohlberg 115, 7:00 p.m.

Swarthmore Interfaith Text Study (SIFTS) meeting
ML Breakfast Room, 7:00 p.m.

Film Series on Food in Film: “Like Water for Chocolate/Como agua para chocolate”
Science Center 101, 7:30 p.m.

Shaolin Kung Fu class
Upper Tarble, 8:00 p.m.

Bowling
Parrish Circle, 9:00 p.m.

Tango Class
Upper Tarble, 9:30 p.m.

Student Council meeting
Kohlberg 230, 10:30 p.m.

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SPORTS UPDATE

Today:
There are no contests scheduled for today.

Tomorrow:
There are no contests scheduled for tomorrow.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“A rumor without a leg to stand on will get around some other way.”
–John Tudor

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