5/15/00 1:15 p.m.
Reflections of A Non-Marching Mom
She's a source of wisdom, by George.

Robert A. George is an editorial page writer
for the New York Post--------------------------------------------RAGGEDmail@aol.com

om didn't bother going marching Sunday. Instead, no surprise, she was working. She's been a nurse for close to forty years now. As luck would have it National Nurses' Week ran right into Mother's Day this year. This gave her favorite son the opportunity for a two-in-one gift: A teddy bear in a nurse's outfit (with mini-flowers) and chocolates. Mom was so happy she called favorite son even before he had the chance to give his best wishes. (In the interest of full disclosure, your humble columnist should probably admit that he is not just the favorite, but only son in this particular family. But hey, you take what you can get.) It's amazing how much we can still learn from our parents, even though we are no longer children.

Mom has become quite helpful reporting what is going on in Miami in the wake of the Elian frenzy. She updated me on the fallout from the various rallies and counter-rallies of the last couple of weekends. Mom said, "The big rally that the Miami Cubans had protesting the raid was filled with Cuban flags, flying the American flag upside down and such nonsense. Meanwhile, about 2,500 non-Cubans had their own rally — partly in support of Reno, but primarily so they could fly the American flag. A few days later, they had an even bigger one — over 4,000 people showed up, waving our flag. Last week, when the Miami Cubans had smaller demonstrations [in support of the Court of Appeals motions] — it was all American flags."

Mom's story confirmed a theory of mine on one major reason public opinion has lined up in support of Reno's seizure of Elian. The most devastating image to the Miami Cuban cause was the photos in the April 14 newspapers of the demonstration the day before: American flags were barely visible in the sea of Cuban banners. The signal was sent that Miamians cared more about Cuba and Castro than about either Elian or the U.S. That underlying sentiment makes the public that much more willing to accept administration's line on the propriety of the seizure. My mother, my source (appropriately enough, come to think of it).

Our conversation wandered onto other matters. She explained that she keeps her car radio on the sports-talk station — except she hates the afternoon host. So, when she's driving in the afternoon, she switches over to Dr. Laura and Rush. Mom? Sports-talk, Dr. Laura, and Rush? Exactly what's in the water in Florida anyway? The sports didn't surprise me, that much — she's been a baseball fan for decades. But she had never really had much of an interest in politics in the past (beyond the basics of who's president and so forth). But it seems that in her, uh, maturing years, against all probability, my mother is regularly listening to Rush? My mother — the Dittohead?

Given that backdrop, we naturally started talking about the Hillary and Rudy campaign. She said she hadn't been paying that much attention to all the latest goings on with New York City's mayor — until she had a conversation with her significant other (also named Robert, coincidentally enough). "The first thing out of his mouth was — 'Looks like Clinton's up to his old tricks again.' Robert told me about the other woman, and the separation and so forth — and how all this was coming out now, on top of the cancer. With all the things that happen to people getting involved with the Clintons, this is too perfect." I explained to Mom that she had now officially moved into the Dick Morris-style punditry area. Come to think of it, Robert Novak said the same thing on CNN the other night. By the way, from her professional nurse's opinion (a career that has run the gamut from intensive- care unit to substance-abuse centers), she doesn't think Rudy will run: "It's too much — the marriage, the surgery, the recovery period, the children. Nobody can withstand all that."

Not that the prospect of Hillary Clinton getting the New York Senate seat was exactly reassuring: "Who does this woman think she is? First Lady or not, how does she just decide to pick up and move into some state she's never lived in and then think she should be Senator? If she wants to be senator so much, why doesn't she just go back to Arkansas — where she's from — and run there!" My mother — the nurse-pundit.

Oh, I never asked her who she's voting for, between Gore and Bush. Well, looks like this columnist will have to check in with his Miami source in the next week or so again. Which is a good thing, too. It's pretty amazing what he can learn.