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I really was incensed when the President, just before last November's elections, started running against Washington, against Congress, against the very policies he had been so integral in developing. Then what can you expect in terms of public perception?
Q. Would the proposed term limitation for Congress raise political standards?
A. This whole business of term limitations is a wrongheaded move. That's not the way you correct wrongdoing. What you're doing is muting the people's voice for some short-term political benefit.
Q. What would be your first change?
A. The greatest change, the No. 1 change, has to be in the way we fund political campaigns. It is the money that has become an obscenity, has been so corrupting. I would like to see some limitation on how much money you can pour into a political contest. But there will not be a change until there is enough of a public outcry demanding it.
Q. It is argued that the Keating Five were only doing what any Senator does on behalf of large contributors. Would you agree?
A. Until we get genuine campaign finance reform we will have public officials like the Keating Five doing constituency service for wealthy constituents. But as long as there is the appearance that you are selling your office, the public is going to have a negative reaction.
I do not think these Senators sold their office or their soul, but what they did was to get on the most-favored congressional list of this Charles Keating, a man who had a lot of money. In order to curry favor with this wealthy constituent, you do things that will be helpful to him in his business. So unless we change the system of campaign finance, we're going to have incidents like the Keating Five occur time and time again.
Q. But campaigning by television requires huge amounts of money. Can any politician escape the money trap now?
A. I doubt it. I would like for one to try, however. I'd like for somebody to get out there and see if they could do it. People want politicians who are honest and credible, and if they could just know that you're going to do a bang-up job for them, they'll help you, they'll vote for you.
But we've got so far away from the politicians' selling themselves personally. We just let money and sound bites and 30-second spots do it -- and that's not the way the republic is supposed to be run.
Q. Are we scrutinizing politicians so harshly, demanding that they give up so much for public office, that we're keeping many good men and women out of politics?
A. We're keeping some out, but when you get into the arena, you know what the arena requires. You know it's going to be tough, you're going to be asked some very hard questions, your privacy is going to be stripped away. But when you offer yourself for office, you have to expect that. You must, or not seek office.
My strong feeling is that the best people, those who really have what it takes to be good in the office, can be talked into making the effort, because the primary pull on those people must be that they can serve the public in a good way.
Q. Could it be that our ethical standards are more stringent now than in the past?