Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Carville and Matalin lecture on love, war and politics
By Jack Willems
Arkansas Traveler (U. Arkansas)
04/04/2006

(U-WIRE) FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The UA received a two-for-one deal on its distinguished lecture series last Thursday when James Carville and Mary Matalin came to Barnhill Arena.

Carville and Matalin, a married couple, gave their lecture "All's Fair: Love, War and Politics" to a cheering, and often booing, crowd. Carville, a political strategist for Former President Bill Clinton's campaign in 1992, and Matalin, an advisor to Vice President Cheney, spoke about and debated issues such as terrorism, the war in Iraq, global warming and immigration.

Carville lectured on the future of American politics. He predicted that a "New Realism" would develop during the 2008 election. He said he believes the American public is tired of being given an overly optimistic picture of things. Politicians need to stop arguing whether there is a problem in Iraq or with global warming and deal with it, Carville said.

"We need to be arguing about the solution, not if there is a problem," Carville said.

He said confronting the country's issues is not impossible, but it will require all segments of society to work together. Carville said the only way to start this would be to have a leader who challenges the public.

Carville compared the current situation in the United States to the situation during the Civil War. The United States was in a far worse situation then, but the nation still looked forward by planning to build universities after the war, Carville said.

Matalin lectured about the current state of world politics. Matalin said the world is at "a global crossroads."

"Change is inevitable; progress is not," Matalin said.

Matalin said the greatest threat in future of the United States and the world is Islamofascism. Islamofascists want to resurrect the Islamic Caliphate dead since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Matalin said.

"We think of Iraq and Afghanistan, as wars but they think of them as fronts," Matalin said.

Matalin said preemptive war is necessary to battle terrorism because terrorists cannot be deterred like states. She said the war in Iraq is justified and that newly released documents would prove that Saddam had the capability to produce weapons of mass destruction quickly.

Matalin stressed the necessity of spreading democracy in the Middle East. She cited elections in Lebanon and Egypt as examples of progress and said the public should not be disheartened by the Hamas victory in Palestine.

"There are few systems more conducive to progress than democracy," Matalin said.

Matalin and Carville debated over issues such as corruption and campaign finance reform. Matalin said the issue was less about how much money politicians were taking and more about transparency. Carville disagreed with this assessment. He said even the most well meaning people can be led down the wrong track with enough temptation.

Carville offered advice to aspiring political candidates. He said anyone who wants to go into politics should have a reason. A candidate must be against something, Carville said.

He said political consulting was more about telling politicians what not to do rather than what to do.

"Most people think political consulting is filling an empty vessel, but it is really emptying a full vessel," Carville said.

He also said that he believes the current state of the media makes more information available, but "information does not mean more knowledge." People watch television they know will reaffirm their political beliefs, Carville said.

"People use the media like a drunk uses a light pole, for support not illumination," Carville said.

Carville said all elections are about a basic choice. The media used to persuade people is secondary, he said.

Davis Stephen, a member of the Distinguished Lecture Committee, said the committee had been trying hard to invite Carville and Matalin.

"We have wanted them for a really long time and they have been topping the priority list. We could not get them until now for various financial and planning reasons," Stephen said.

Dwayne Bensing, a co-chair of the committee, estimated that 2,500 people had to opportunity to come in contact with Carville throughout the day.

Jeremiah Wax, a freshman, said he enjoyed the lecture.

"I liked Carville's enthusiasm," Wax said. "You could tell he had the gut of America in his heart."

Ashley Hale, another student at the lecture, said she did not enjoy the lecture.

"They didn't debate issues like I thought they would," Hale said.

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