THE NEW YORK TIMES - For Gore and McCainThe New York Times editorial page endorses John McCain as the preferable candidate for the Republicans and Al Gore as its choice for the Democratic nomination.In their very different ways, each of these men communicates a greater capacity for overarching presidential leadership than his opponent. Mr McCain's potential proceeds from deeper knowledge about government and a commitment to reform as a guiding idea rather than a hastily adopted slogan. Mr Gore knows more about domestic and foreign issues than any candidate in either party, and his aura of confidence and readiness for command have intensified while Bill Bradley's appetite for the job seems to have mysteriously diminished during the campaign.We have clear disagreements with Mr McCain on issues like abortion and gun control as well as profound reservations about Mr Gore's record on the Clinton-Gore campaign's fundraising abuses in 1996. But real campaigns seldom present perfect choices. Therefore a nomination endorsement has to take into consideration the broad agenda of challenges that will face the next president and to reflect a reasoned judgment and sometimes even a leap of faith as to a candidate's ability to rise above ideology and past mistakes. The list of tests confronting the next president is a daunting one. it includes preserving peace and prosperity, improving education, health care and the environment, and healing the religious and racial divisions in American society. In their respective races, Mr McCain and Mr Gore are unequivocally the best choices to lead in these areas..- Excerpted from an editorial in `The New York Times', March 5The night of the general.THE SUNDAY TIMES - The night of the general.The protracted international spectacle of his (Senator Augusto Pinochet) extradition fight, however, brought back Chile's tragic past to hot-blooded life. London may have been a reluctant legal sideshow to a drama that properly belonged in Spain and Chile, but it was also a catalyst.The extraordinary saga heightened awareness not only of the crimes for which Pinochet should be tried, but also that he has escaped justice; while for his supporters, his enforced Wentworth sojourn turned him from a national hero into a martyr.It is unlikely that the old dictator will be tried in Chile because of his health. He may have fooled the British doctors; but just because he walked from the plane hardly indicates his brain is sound enough to cope with a trial. Failure to try him, however, is not just bad for the grieving families and friends of those who were killed or tortured under the Pinochet regime. It's also bad for Chile.Despite the understandable fear of rubbing salt on open wounds, a country's prospects of tranquility and decency tend to be imperilled if it doesn't properly come to terms with its past.Public figures who have done terrible wrongs must be brought to account, not simply to bring them to justice, but because the poison from their regimes tends to seep into the national bloodstream. There has to be a public accounting, followed by reparation or restitution. Only then can reconciliation take place and the country move on..- Excerpted from Melanie Phillips' column in `The Sunday Times', March 5
