lick. Every picture tells a story, don't it? Be happy, friends, that even in the 21st century — following one of the bloodiest hundred-year periods ever visited upon mankind — one truth still remains: The pen is still mightier than the sword — or in this case, the camera is mightier than the machine gun. For a long time to come, The Picture may be all that remains ingrained in the nation's collective memory. Even — especially — for those of us who believed Elian should be reunited with his father, The Picture causes those heartfelt beliefs to turn into ashes in our mouths. The hard, cold steel from the barrel of a true assault weapon drives nearly all other views out of the mind.

We are face-to-face with an administration, even if it might be doing the right thing, will still do it in the worst, most dehumanizing, way possible. Click. After the events of April 22, 2000 (a date that might live forever in infamy — call it Elian Day now, instead of Earth Day), several things come sharply into focus. Aside from Fidel Castro (and, arguably, Juan Miguel Gonzalez), there can't be many people who can really be considered "happy" about The Raid. For the producers of the Elian TV drama(s) — one is already going into production, expect more — the intrusion of federal agents into this on-going storyline gives them just the necessary element of danger for Part Two of the mini-series (the escape from Cuba was the danger moment in Part One). Click.

For the George W. Bush campaign, there is a distinct political gain. Florida was always going to be tough for Al Gore, what with Jeb Bush as governor, even though Clinton carried the state in 1996. But the true swing vote in the 1996 campaign was, ironically, the Miami Cuban community. That group, which had traditionally voted overwhelmingly for Republicans, gave the Democrats a sizable percentage (Dole still won the plurality of Cuban-American support) which contributed to a narrow win for Clinton-Gore. To quote a banner from downtown Miami from last Thursday: "Democrats Will Pay in November." Considering the rather harsh comments on the raid from Senator Bob Graham Sunday, we can also scratch him from Al Gore's V.P. short list. Too bad for Gore, too — Graham has an element of maturity and integrity (relatively speaking) that could have helped Plastic Al in the general campaign. The Raid should give George W. Florida quite handily (and whoever the GOP Senate candidate is will also benefit). Click.

This incident further illustrates so many things wrong with the Clinton administration. For the liberals visiting the NRO site, this is why conservatives despise Bill Clinton — for reasons that have nothing to do with whoring around. For one thing, here is a man who has shown such disdain for the law that he is about to be disbarred in his home state. Yet, Saturday morning, he states calmly, "the law has been upheld — and that was the right thing to do." Even assuming for a moment that everything we have been told about the Raid is true, how can we be reassured by a man who tossed his moral authority for the most petty of matters?

Worse, Bill Clinton subsumes everything to his own personal vanity. This is a president who stands for nothing if it is not in his best interests. Parse the words of Bill Clinton at his press conference Saturday. He "supported" Reno's decision and the operation which "she managed (emphasis added)" The buck here stops with Janet Reno. The President refuses to have his fingerprints on this. Click. We also know something else. Though the Right tends to see Janet Reno and Bill Clinton as two peas in a pod, this incident illustrates that they have two very different styles and personalities. Whether this makes Janet Reno any less culpable in the grand scheme of things is debatable. Regardless, it is illuminating to see that, whatever the situation, Bill Clinton thinks public relations first, whereas Janet Reno has no sense of public relations at all. She is "righteous" in her mind and doesn't think at all about how things look. If Clinton's reputation had been on the line, the Saturday morning incident would have transpired far differently.

Recall how public opinion began to turn in the Lewinsky matter when Monica's mom "broke down" while giving grand jury testimony — and ran fleeing in tears from the federal court — right into the "comforting arms" of nearby cameras. The public "saw" an independent counsel "terrorizing" a woman over the sexual affairs of her daughter. Recall Clinton's own grand-jury testimony — recall the disinformation about what was on the videotape (Clinton's "anger," etc.): What we got was a sympathetic President being "bullied" by the IC's office. Recall the First Family leaving the White House after Clinton's infamous post-testimony speech — Chelsea nicely placed between her two parents, the "glue" keeping the family unit together. The point is that Bill Clinton knows how to make the camera be his friend. It matters little what the format is, he knows how to seduce his given audience and win them over. When Clinton is orchestrating an event, you know that, generally, the camera will be his friend. The "wagging finger" episode is notable exception which proves only one thing — Clinton's instincts on these matters are far better than Hollywood pal Harry Thomasson's. Click.

Janet Reno uses force for the execution (so to speak) of a stated policy aim or problem situation. Many people might disagree with a given diagnosis, but it can't truly be said that Reno disguises the possibility of force: It's always on the table for Reno. In Waco, the problem was the weeks-long stand-off with the Branch Davidians. She moved in upon "reports" that there were children being abused. The compound went up in flames. In Miami, negotiations on Elian's well-being suddenly come to an end with a couple of knocks on the door and then, well, The Picture. Reno & Co. deem force to be necessary because of "reports" that there may be weapons in the house. No one was killed this time, but a little boy suffers several moments of inexplicable terror, a home and community are violated, and more than a few Americans nationwide are unnerved. PR is an afterthought for Janet Reno.

Which obviously makes Greg Craig the Clinton PR mastermind around this operation: He first attempted to get news organizations to refrain from photographing "Operation Reunion." Yeah, right. Craig then organized the release of the photos of the reunited father and child. Apparently someone explained to Reno the PR nightmare she was facing with The Picture racing around the world; during her press conference, she gamely tried to explain to media organizations that the federal marshal's finger was not on the trigger of his weapon. She shared her hope that media would accurately report the "context" of this picture. The New York Times happily followed Reno's marching orders: It put the reunion photo above its Sunday fold along with another photo from the seizure (a female INS agent with a scared Elian in her arms — admittedly disturbing in itself). The Picture was buried well inside, surrounded by a "contextual" story. Apparently the Old Gray Lady's slogan is about to metamorphose into "All The News That Fits To Print — The 'Official' Story." Click.