Sunday, December 30, 2007

Boren, Nunn call meeting to challenge candidates



Boren, Nunn call meeting to challenge candidates
John Greiner
Capitol Bureau


NORMAN — University of Oklahoma President David L. Boren and former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia are convening a bipartisan group of nationally prominent political figures next Sunday and Monday Jan. 6 and 7 to challenge presidential candidates to focus on America’s serious issues.

Those planning to attend include New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a possible independent candidate for president; former Democrat U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb of Virginia; Bill Brock, former Republican Party chairman and former Tennessee U.S. Senator; Jim Leach, a former Republican congressman from Iowa; and former Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart, who also served in the U.S. Senate.

Those invited will arrive in Norman Sunday evening and will first meet informally.

They will meet again Monday, Jan. 7, and then go to Holmberg Hall on the OU campus for a public panel discussion — open to students and the media — and conclude with a press conference on the OU campus, Boren said.

“This is not a Bloomberg for president meeting,” said Boren, a former U.S. Senator.

But, if those running for president don’t begin talking about bringing the country together, it could create an opening for an independent candidacy, Boren said.

“We used to work together across party lines and we used to cooperate with each other,” Boren told the Associated Press of his relationships with current and former senators who plan to attend. “It is a message to the two parties: Please rise to the occasion. If you don't, there is always a possibility out there of an independent.

“We need statesmanship, not politics. The meeting in itself implies there could be other possibilities,” than a two-party contest.

However, Boren told The Oklahoman, “This does not signal my re-entry into politics. I will stay where I am. I don’t intend to run for anything.”

Some attending the meeting intend to support their party’s nominee for president, Boren said.

The meeting’s purpose probably is best described in the letter Boren and Nunn sent to those who are coming to Norman.

“Today we are a house divided. We believe that the next president must be able to call for a unity of effort by choosing the best talent available — without regard to political party — to help lead our nation,” they wrote.

The issues Boren and Nunn believe should be discussed in the presidential campaign include a national strategy to deal with the nation’s fiscal challenges and educational, energy and environmental challenges as well as the “dangerous turbulence triggered by the current financial crisis.”

In national security, America must rebuild and reconfigure its military forces, develop a viable and sustainable approach to nuclear proliferation and terrorism and greatly strengthen its intelligence and diplomatic capabilities, their letter said.

“Most importantly, we must begin to restore our standing, influence and credibility in the world,” they said.

Boren said America’s approval rating in the world is at its lowest level in history.

“Cooperating with the rest of the world is important to our economy and national security,” he said

Boren and Nunn were friends while serving in the U.S. Senate.

Boren, a Democrat, was chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Nunn, also a Democrat, was chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

Boren, former Governor of Oklahoma, resigned from the U.S. Senate in 1994 to become OU’s president.

Others who plan to attend the meeting are: William S. Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine who later was Secretary of Defense in President Clinton’s administration; Alan Dixon, a former Democrat senator from Illinois; former Florida Democrat U.S. Senator Bob Graham; David Abshire, president of the Center for the Study of the Presidency; Susan Eisenhower, political consultant; Jack Danforth, former U.S. Senator from Missouri and former Ambassador to the United Nations: Edward Perkins, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Christine Todd Whitman, a Republican and former New Jersey Governor; and Chuck Hagel, U.S. Senator from Nebraska.

Boren and Nunn said the nation’s political system is at the least, badly bent, and many think it is broken at a time when America must lead “boldly at home and abroad.”

“Partisan polarization is preventing us from uniting to meet the challenges that we must face if we are to prevent further erosion of America’s power of leadership and example,” their letter said.

Boren said he called Nunn about convening this group after reading a poll where a majority of Americans said they didn’t believe our future would be as good as in the past.

“They sense our greatness is eroding,” Boren said.

He’s hopeful that the presidential candidates will rise to the occasion and put the country first, ahead of party.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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