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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (34350)	2/18/1999 8:26:00 AM
From: jlallen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 67261

LOL! Not in the least. JLA

To: Neocon who wrote (34350)	2/18/1999 2:50:00 PM
From: Les H	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 67261

And now ... how do I get Al Gore elected? By Dick Morris When both parties need to “get well,” progress happens in our American democracy. It last happened in 1996 when the Republicans were recovering from the government shutdown and Bill Clinton faced his reelection battle. Now, after the impeachment debacle and the Lewinsky disaster, both the Republican congressional leadership and President Clinton need to get well. Just as the aftermath of the government shutdown led to the passage of the Kennedy- Kassebaum health reform, the minimum wage increase, the clean drinking water act, and welfare reform legislation, so the post-impeachment session of Congress should lead to real and important legislative achievements. History demands it of Clinton and the voters demand it of the Congress. In every split government, the question looms for the incumbent president: “Would I prefer deadlock which will enhance my party's chances in the next congressional election or would I prefer achievement which will look good in history?” Always one's congressional allies ask for confrontation and gridlock. But always the inexorable march of history wins out and the incumbent president opts for achievement. In Clinton's case, history's demands are particularly compelling. Reform of Social Security and Medicare is the dry cleaning the president needs to erase the stain on his presidency left by the stain on Monica Lewinsky's dress. As much as he feels indebted to his new-found Democratic friends who saved his bacon in the Senate, the requisites of history are far more compelling. Beyond the demands of academia, Clinton faces a daunting task: the election of Vice President Al Gore to the presidency. While the Lewinsky scandal has not dented the president's job approval ratings, it has played havoc with Gore's numbers. From a comfortable lead over the pretender Gov. George W. Bush (R-Texas), Gore now faces a 13-point deficit. It is Clinton's karma that he had the sex and the Republicans, on the one hand, and Gore, on the other, suffered the political damage. As an American shock-jock said recently, “If Clinton hit an iceberg, the iceberg would sink.” For Gore the mandate is to free himself of the Clinton agenda and return to his original venue of environmentalism and technology. The vice president has to realize that he gains nothing when he stands in as the spokesperson for the administration. Like Joe Lockhart and Mike McCurry before him, Al Gore's pronouncements from the podium will not get him elected president as long as he just mouths administration policy. The fact that this particular vice president has participated, indeed dominated, the formulation of the policies he announces is neither here nor there. He comes across as a spokesman and is dismissed as a spokesman. Only if Gore returns to his original credo of environmental activism and technological modernity will he free himself of the shadow of Clinton and articulate a case for his candidacy which will be compelling to the voters. The eclipse of the candidacy of House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) means that Gore cannot win the nomination as the lesser of two evils. Now he must speak out for himself on his own issues. For Clinton, the mandate is history. He must rise above his visceral impetus toward vengeance and pad the history books with his legacy to drown out the other thing which shadows his presidency. The obvious answer to the Social Security issue is a commission modeled after the Base Closing Commission. The president's Social Security program, which skirts the question of what to do if the surplus does not eventuate, is only the answer in good times. The GOP dares not fill the gap by acting responsibly and proposing reductions. This “third rail” of American politics can only be addressed by a commission which requires the president to move first and limits the Congress to an up-or-down vote. Republicans who would wax creative in saving Social Security with market mechanisms had better heed the wisdom of safety and move on. One debacle per congressional session is all they are permitted if they seek to retain the majority.