Editorials
COMMONWEAL Promises, promises here would not seem to be much to choose from between the bombast and xenophobia of the Republican convention in Houston and the Democrats' strident prochoice rally...
...We have borrowed billions to sustain our standard of living...
...He is silent about restraining middle-class entitlements such as Medicare...
...But in the new global economy where industrial nations will increasingly confront one another as equals, leadership will require a coherent sense of our own domestic priorities and values...
...Social disarray and educational failure have put us at a distinct disadvantage in the new global economy (see Wilber, pp...
...Yet choose we must...
...Luckily for the Arkansas governor, President Bush's political cynicism and inertia when it comes to domestic problems raise plenty of questions about character as well...
...Whether Clinton can bring greater efficiency and direction to government spending and planning is anyone's guess...
...We have moved, it seems fair to say, from a bipolar to a multipolar world...
...The Democrats' equating of abortion-on-demand with the emancipation of women remains deeply offensive to many...
...Clinton is knowledgeable and articulate, but in seeming to have an answer to every question he risks appearing glib...
...In short, we are living beyond our means—and have been for quite some time...
...The Republican attempt to turn so-called "family values" into the bugle call for a "religious war" has been met with scorn by the majority of voters...
...Bush's attempt to provoke the electorate's resentment toward intrusive government—while dispensing billions in election-year pork—shows why even conservatives find him something of a cipher...
...Would President Clinton be able to say "No" to his supporters—teacher, public employee, and health-care unions, etc.—when it comes time to make the public schools more flexible and accountable, reform welfare, limit health-care spending, and further tax or curtail Social Security benefits for the better off...
...Issues and programs are important...
...The next president will have to make unpopular decisions and ask real sacrifices in order to reinvigorate the economy, reeducate the work force, and revitalize our common life...
...COMMONWEAL Promises, promises here would not seem to be much to choose from between the bombast and xenophobia of the Republican convention in Houston and the Democrats' strident prochoice rally in New York...
...Our economic hegemony has also diminished...
...Neither party offers a morally coherent vision...
...They want to know where these horses are going...
...The federal deficit, the burden runaway health-care costs impose on government and industry alike, the conditions of urban America, and the tough times likely ahead demand honest talk from both candidates...
...With the end of the cold war, the purpose and scope of America's role in the world have to be rethought...
...Bush is recycling the discredited notion of supply-side economics, arguing that lower taxes will spur the economy and thus increase federal revenues...
...worker has made little if any economic progress for over a decade...
...Nationalism isn't dead—indeed, it's enjoying a revival—but an opportunity exists for the United States to lead the way to greater international cooperation on questions of war and peace, arms control, trade, the environment, and ameliorating the disparities between rich and poor nations...
...9 October 1992:3 Clinton promises billions for highways, research and development, education, and job training—much of it needed to be sure— but his explanations of where the money is going to come from are specious...
...Clinton's lead in the opinion polls suggests that his call for change is getting a sympathetic hearing from voters who, pollsters tell us, nevertheless remain undecided and uneasy about Clinton himself...
...Despite Clinton's talk about "industrial policy" and "investment in infrastructure" and Bush's exhortations to unleash "entrepreneurial capitalism," neither candidate has said the hard things that need saying...
...We've seen what Bush can do domestically...
...Whatever the caliber of Bush and Clinton, this election is pivotal to the nation's future...
...Whether Clinton can avoid the same fate if elected is an open question...
...America's singular role in the world need not be shunned, but it would be the worst sort of hubris to think we can be persuasive abroad if hamstrung by turmoil and economic crises at home...
...Neither man may be up to the challenges ahead, but the most unrealistic promise of all is the idea that we can steer through new and dangerous political waters without a clear idea of where we want to go (yes, the vision thing) or an engaged captain on the bridge...
...But at some irreducible level the election of a president is indeed about character, and Clinton's "character" remains largely unknown and suspect...
...The world may not be a much safer place than it was when the Soviet Union and the United States were locked in mortal ideological conflict, but it is surely a different place...
...Despite his command of the issues, Clinton is dogged by his evasive answers about avoiding the draft and by his listeners' frank skepticism about the many promises he makes...
...Bush is promising tax cuts he cannot deliver and Mr...
...Bush's foreign policy accomplishments are real enough...
...Americans are working harder and earning less...
...His proposal to modestly raise the taxes of people making over $200,000 doesn't come close to paying for what he proposes to do...
...Clinton is promising growth he cannot deliver," notes the Economist...
...Bush or Clinton faces a very "new" world order abroad...
...11-16...
...Battered by the longest recession since the Depression, there is some indication that Americans are demanding something more than a horse race from President George Bush and Governor Bill Clinton...
...Clinton's advocacy of a disciplined but active role for government at least takes the urgency of our present predicament seriously...
...While it is true that much of the industrial world is also suffering economic hardship, it is also a fact that the average U.S...
Vol. 119 • October 1992 • No. 17
