Clinton's Warrior Woes
Can a man who avoided the draft ever prove himself as America's commander in chief?
Still, winning the military's confidence will not be easy. Senate hearings on lifting the ban on homosexuals are expected to begin within a month and will surely highlight military leaders' opposition. Such leaders say lifting the ban would harm order, discipline and esprit de corps. A Los Angeles Times poll found that 74 percent of enlisted personnel oppose Clinton's plan, while only 18 percent support the change. But for Clinton, the issue is one of fairness and equality, and it's unlikely he will change course.
Other career soldiers are more upset about Clinton's proposal to cut $88 billion from the defense budget by the end of 1997--the deepest cuts he has proposed for any government department. Many fear that if Clinton needs to find more revenue to finance Hillary Rodham Clinton's health-care reforms, even more money will come out of the Pentagon budget, crippling readiness.
Just as important, some military strategists and their congressional allies think Clinton has been too cavalier in advocating the increased use of U.S. force abroad. They see his decision to airdrop supplies to Bosnia as a case in point: a well-intentioned humanitarian effort doomed to failure, with the military assigned a mission it cannot achieve.
Poisoned rumors. At the Pentagon, the stories about White House insensitivity are numerous, and, some Clinton defenders say, approach paranoia. Perhaps the most virulent is the story that Chelsea Clinton refused to enter a government car destined to drive her to school because she didn't want to ride with a uniformed officer. Knowledgeable sources say Chelsea has always ridden with Secret Service agents and the occasion has never arisen where a military escort was asked to fill in for her regular agents. Among other poisonous rumors is the tale that the Clintonites are preparing to order military personnel to wear civilian clothes, not their uniforms, whenever they enter the White House. Another rumor is that Clinton advisers have forbidden the military aide who carries "the football"--a suitcase containing nuclear launch codes--to dress in uniform. The White House denies both allegations.
U.S. News has learned, however, that another tale being spread around the Pentagon is true. Not long after Clinton took office, sources say, Lt. Gen. Barry McCaffrey was visiting the White House and tried to exchange pleasantries with a woman in the West Wing. She angrily replied that she didn't speak to people in uniform. Administration insiders say that if the woman is ever identified, she will be fired.
White House officials, even while dismissing the stories, are taking them seriously. Some senior advisers say the very intensity of the rumors shows that tension in the Pentagon has been growing and morale is low. And the commander in chief, by all accounts, is eager to improve relations. Friends note that even though Clinton avoided the Vietnam War and is the first president in nearly 50 years never to have worn a uniform, he grew up in a Southern culture that valued the military and its traditions. He has always been proud of his father for serving in World War II, friends say, and still treasures his dad's medals.
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