Defeat by Default

Ike and Monty teamed up last week to lose the second Battle of Gettysburg to some Robert E. Lee partisans, but General Eisenhower then attempted a flank movement at his press conference by saying he thought Lee was one of his four favorite Americans, despite all the nasty things he'd said about how Lee fought the battle.

We feel the same way about Eisenhower that Eisenhower apparently feels about General Lee. He's a fine fellow, but he's not fighting his battles right.

Of course, where Lee gambled with his infantry, Eisenhower has never risked one whit of prestige. Now, of course the AP reported yesterday that the President "at long last, had proved he could get down off his high horse and punch." This referred to a statement earlier in the day when he said he would henceforth distinguish between those Republican candidates he was "for" and those he was "enthusiastically for."

It's nice to hope that this will have an effect on Congressional reactions to the budget, but basically this Alice-in-Wonderland approach to government has gone too far. No one with a realistic knowledge of Congress would ever ask that body to cut a budget--it's perfectly happy to carve up any measures but the Rivers and Harbors bill without special invitation. And the disorganization within the Administration about how much the government needed to spend was comical only when it concerned Ike's helicopters. Otherwise it was frightening.

Now we may be fortunate enough to keep most of the budget, with the program which nobody wants to discard, but there is no chance at all for a school construction bill or for civil rights legislation.

Meanwhile, American prestige abroad drops to new lows, and men like Charles Bohlen leave key diplomatic posts, and the Hungarian refugee program lumbers to a halt.

What we have been seeing since Eisenhower's grand Second Inaugural address is a shocking lack of leadership.

This Administration has accomplished nothing more than passing the meaningless Middle East doctrine. It is not the role of Congress to lead, and even Lyndon Johnson and the boys are coming around to this view. The democrats are no longer willing to fight for Eisenhower's program, unless he will get in the fight, too.

Everyone is too contented down in Washington, and nothing much will be accomplished until someone gets angry. In the field of civil rights, for example, the failure to press for early action has virtually assured the South of no action this session. Barring a violent fight in the Senate, and an attack on Johnson's leadership, no extraordinary parliamentary means will be used to force the program to the floor.

Things have to be done, and General Eisenhower's leisurely government marks a major recline. The Administration is producing neither domestic legislation nor foreign policy, and the blame is Eisenhower's.