Clintons, Gore Go Their
Separate Political Ways
11:42 a.m. Jul 04, 1999 Eastern
By Laurence McQuillan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If
two are company and three are a
crowd, the White House is a
crowded place for politicians these
days.
President Clinton is focused on his
legacy, Vice President Al Gore
wants to be the next president, and
first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
seems intent on running for the
Senate.
After years of championing a
common agenda, the political paths
of the three are diverging and that
has caused some awkward
moments of late.
Gore last month declared his
candidacy for the Democratic
presidential nomination for the
2000 election and immediately
criticized Clinton's behavior in the
Monica Lewinsky sex scandal,
describing it as inexcusable. The
vice president's attempts to
distance himself from the seamier
side of Clinton's legacy prompted
a spate of media reports the
president's feelings were hurt --
something that Clinton later denied.
Hillary Clinton Tuesday is
expected to file legal papers to set
up an exploratory committee to run
for the Senate in New York. But
even before she made it official,
the first lady turned up with New
York politicians at the White
House to discuss the impact of the
president's Medicare proposal on
New York. This spawned
speculation that Hillary was
distancing herself from her
husband's health policy.
''Everybody is making plans for
the future, and their futures are
diverging,'' said former White
House Press Secretary Dee Dee
Myers.
''The president has his agenda,
which has always reigned supreme
in the White House -- the future
was his agenda,'' said Myers, who
sat in on numerous policy sessions
during her days in the Clinton
administration.
''Now, Hillary has her campaign
and Al has his campaign and the
president finds ... their interests
don't necessarily coincide,'' she
said.
With just 18 months to go in his
presidency, Clinton himself has
been trying to remind the world
that he still is relevant -- offering a
series of domestic initiatives,
including Medicare reform and a
plan to shore up the Social
Security system.
Unlike previous White House
staffs, there has been surprisingly
little internal warfare among the
offices of the president, vice
president and first lady in the past
-- primarily because their staffs
have been fully integrated.
Clinton says he realizes that
harmony will be tested by the
coming campaign, but says he will
''take no offense'' if his wife or his
vice president advocate a different
stance.
''Nobody with a fine mind and a
lot of experience ... would agree
with anyone else with the same
qualities on every issue,'' Clinton
told reporters in trying to dismiss
speculation about rising tensions.
''It just wouldn't happen.''
Ironically, one of the president's
most recent major proposals --
Medicare reform -- puts him in a
politically awkward position in
terms of his wife's political plans.
Under the balanced budget
agreement reached in 1997,
federal funding to teaching
hospitals were cut, a move that has
a significant impact in New York.
While Clinton's Medicare plan was
cast by the administration as an
attempt to soften the cutbacks,
members of the state's
congressional delegation claim that
in reality it will cost New York
hospitals as much as $39 billion
over 10 years.
New York Sen. Charles Schumer
told reporters that if the first lady
wants to serve in the Senate with
him she must ''defend New York
interests. There's a way to keep
this plan intact and help New
York. That's what I'm trying to
do.''
In an unusual move, the first lady
participated in a meeting Thursday
at the White House between senior
administration officials and a
contingent representing New York
interests, including Schumer.
While aides to Mrs. Clinton said
she fully supported the overall
Medicare proposal, she was
described as ''very concerned''
about revenue losses to New York
and will closely monitor
developments in Congress.
Clinton has tried to downplay the
possible Medicare rift, saying that
if his wife is forced to discuss
''some of the disagreements that
we've had'' over policy ''that's the
way democracy works.''
Current and former Clinton White
House officials say they doubt
there will be major divisive issues
that will erupt in the upcoming
campaign -- mainly because the
three principles are in fundamental
agreement on most matters.
''Only time will tell as the
campaign season plays itself out,''
says Lisa Caputo, who served as
an adviser to Mrs. Clinton at the
White House.
''I think there is an overriding unity
within the White House in the
commitment not just to the
president but to the vice president
and to the first lady,'' she said.
Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited. |
