Arlen Specter: “It is a compliment. I suggested to the President that he be very direct on the problems and the risks, because if there…”

“It is a compliment. I suggested to the President that he be very direct on the problems and the risks, because if there is to be public understanding, the public ought to be informed about the risks. When the Senator from Delaware spoke, and he has repeated it today so it is not something I am telling out of a quasi-private meeting, he used the word ``probably,'' as opposed to the word ``possibly.'' The Senator and others including myself all emphasized the point that there had to be public awareness as to what was going on in Kosovo. The President has made a start. He led off his news conference with the topic, but he did not give a 30-minute speech in detail. That would be a short speech considering the complexity of this subject. This which raises the question as to what is the level of public understanding, which I think is a very important factor in letting me go to a second subject, if I may. The first part of this is hypothetical. If the President knew he would get an affirmative vote in a resolution from Congress on the use of force in Kosovo would he be wise to seek it? Would it strengthen his hand to have an affirmative vote? I, as the Senator from Delaware, do not like to deal with hypotheticals, but we have to on some occasions.”