The American diplomatic collapse at Kyoto, Japan, has one salutary
benefit. It
vindicates totally the coalition that denied Bill Clinton
"fast-track" authority. The
Kyoto cave-in is conclusive proof that Clinton and Al Gore cannot
be trusted to
defend U.S. vital interests. Congress remains America's last line
of defense.
Kyoto was a textbook example of how not to negotiate.
Consider: At Kyoto, Clinton faced a failed summit if he did not
surrender a position
he had promised to hold -- no treaty on global warming without the
signature of big
Third World polluters like China. But Beijing refused to sign. With
the summit's end at
hand, and no treaty, the Clintonites panicked and buckled at Gore's
behest, rather
than accept responsibility for Kyoto's collapse.
Contrast Gore at Kyoto with Reagan at Reykjavik. Handed the "deal
of the century"
-- Moscow's offer to give up nuclear weapons if the United States
would do the
same and give up SDI -- Ronald Reagan walked away from the table.
Reagan would
blow up a summit rather than yield U.S. defense; the Clintonites
will sign anything not
to be seen as "isolated" from the "international community."
Under deadline pressure, the Clintonites crumble. Thus, before
House Speaker Newt
Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott again demand that
the president be
given fast-track authority -- carte blanche to cut trade deals --
they must review his
appalling negotiating record.
At Kyoto, Clinton accepted cuts in U.S. energy consumption that
would mean
America's end as the world's greatest industrial power. To expand
the ABM treaty,
he compromised the U.S. ability to build effective theater missile
defenses. No sooner
had Clinton used the Chemical Weapons Convention to justify U.S.
disarmament than
we learned how easy it was for Iraq to build (and hide) toxic
weapons of mass
destruction.
Under Clinton's North American Free Trade Agreement, the U.S. trade
surplus with
Mexico has turned into our fourth-largest trade deficit. Under
GATT, the United
States has lost $3 in manufacturing sales at home for every $2 we
gained abroad.
Following Clinton's trade deals, U.S. trade deficits hit all-time
records. Is this the kind
of negotiating success Congress should reward by surrendering its
right to amend any
trade treaty Clinton brings home? Because that is what fast track
does.
During his Latin American tour, the president declared that the
goal of his trade policy
was "global economic integration." Imagine where America would be
if we were even
more deeply "integrated" with Asia than we already are. We would
all have the
"Asian flu." We would all be headed into a depression.
And consider the record of the International Monetary Fund and
World Bank to
which Clinton has given a free hand to negotiate Asian bailouts --
for which U.S.
taxpayers are to be put at risk for scores of billions of dollars.
In "The World Bank: Its First Half Century," published this year by
the Brookings
Institution, the bank trumpets itself as "one of the major
institutions to which the
Korean economy owes much of its success." Calling Korea a "role
model" for
"developing countries," the bank brags: "Korea's strong demand for
advice on
economic development policy created a close and working
relationship between
Korean officials and Bank economists ... the advice of Bank
missions was highly
regarded and well taken."
And the IMF? Just three months ago, in its annual report, the IMF
said: "Directors
welcomed Korea's continued impressive macroeconomic performance
(and) praised
the authorities for their enviable fiscal record." About Thailand,
then on the precipice
of disaster, the IMF declared: "Directors strongly praised
Thailand's remarkable
economic performance and the authorities' consistent record of
sound
macroeconomic policies."
The blockheads at the IMF and World Bank were sitting in the cab of
the locomotive
when it jumped the tracks and went over the trestle into the creek.
Now, they want to
oversee rail safety!
Neither the IMF nor the World Bank nor Robert Rubin nor Bill
Clinton saw Mexico's
crisis coming. None saw Asia's crisis coming. Only weeks ago, the
IMF and World
Bank were toasting the Asian economies they now tell us they can
extricate from the
wreckage if only we advance the IMF and World Bank billions of
dollars.
Congress must, as it did in November, say "no."
As for the Republicans who stood up to their leaders, and big
business contributors,
to join House Democrats in blocking any new money for the IMF and
derailing fast
track -- Duncan Hunter, Gerry Solomon, Zach Wamp, Chris Smith, Van
Hilleary,
John Duncan, Joe Scarborough, Ron Paul and all the rest -- they
deserve the
gratitude of the republic, and they are the hope of the party.
