Editorial

...If the Republicans overreach and Clinton and the Democrats continue to flounder, even more change and fragmentation can be expected in '96...

...Meeting tomorrow's problems-getting a handle on the federal budget, reducing the national debt, and investing wisely to help the poor-will require means testing for Social Security and Medicare, higher taxes, and a secure safety net for those who cannot care for themselves...

...American voters, however, are notoriously unideological, and in all likelihood will judge Clinton and his Republican adversaries by whether they get anything constructive done...

...Coming from a man whose perceived problem is that he talks too much and doesn't act decisively enough, Clinton's marathon oration seemed to exemplify the lack of discipline that has hamstrung his administration...

...Despite his own advocacy of a middle-class tax cut, Clinton cautioned against tax cuts that would increase the deficit...

...Whether Clinton will be able to find the political will and the votes necessary to forestall the excesses of the Republicans and turn the nation's attention to preparing for a difficult future remains very much in doubt...

...The device, which is said to be more than 90 percent accurate, "takes readings from urine samples and stores information on the patterns of hormone changes in the individual user...

...Skepticism about Clinton, even outright hostility toward him, remain widespread...

...In trying to do too much while trying to appease too many people, Clinton risked squandering what little political leverage he has left...

...The tough-minded recommendations by the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform, which warned of the massive deficits ahead unless federal entitlement spending is controlled and more of the burden shifted to those who can afford it, have been ignored by both parties...

...a neighbor...

...Clinton endorsed an increase in the minimum wage, but he failed to stipulate the amount...

...Over all, commentators tended to see the speech, and especially its conciliatory tone and conservative rhetoric, as another attempt by Clinton to defuse opposition with vagueness, to substitute endless talk of policy for any defense of principle...

...Pundits generally faulted the president for sounding like a born-again Republican, for a lack of concrete proposals, and for missing the opportunity to clearly define his differences with the majority...

...Clinton's call to "rise above [and] put aside partisanship, pettiness, and pride" was apparently welcomed...

...Bells...

...Seen in this light, few of the most troubling difficulties facing the nation were seriously engaged by the president's speech...

...But also let this be the year that we stop using this issue to divide America...

...To a remarkable extent, Republican attacks on government and liberalism and the stunning November election have pushed the president to the margins of political debate...

...or did he...

...In once again embracing the demand for smaller, more efficient government-something he campaigned for in '92, but put aside in deference to the Democratic Congress-Clinton was seen as cynical or hypocritical by Republican opponents and many commentators...

...But neither the Republican "revolutionaries" nor this on-again, off-again "New Democrat" president show much stomach for such difficult choices...

...Especially heartening was Clinton's eagerness to resist the effort to "punish poor children for the mistakes of their parents...

...And yet, without a dramatic change of course, in a mere six years the budget deficit will climb to $322 billion...

...Amen to that...

...Much more of that kind of talk was and is needed...

...ET CETERA IT'S DISCRIMINATORY According to the [London] Tablet, a new device for detecting when a woman is fertile is under trial by researchers in Britain, Ireland, and Germany, and Catholics interested in natural family planning are excited by the news...

...Perhaps more than anything else, many Americans are still eager for the end of gridlock in Washington, and do sincerely long for greater civility in politics...

...Reaction to the speech was revealingly mixed...

...His call (a necessary one) for a strict accounting of where the enormous spending cuts needed to balance the budget would come from seemed to argue for the folly of such an amendment, but he did not say that explicitly...

...Editorials The American prospect Speaking to a Congress controlled by an aggressive Republican party that believes it was issued a mandate in November to shrink government and dismantle the welfare state, President Bill Clinton dished up a State of the Union address that was long on humility (good), long on the need for comity and cooperation (better), long in its nod to nearly every constituency group (worse), and just plain long altogether (bad...

...Ask a neighbor...

...Welfare reform, he rightly added, is absolutely necessary, and perhaps experimentation in the states is the best way to do it...

...Revisiting the question of fairness and efficiency in health care will also be necessary...

...The Republican effort to repeal the ban on assault weapons is worthy of his promised veto...

...The Republicans' so-called fiscally conservative "Contract with America" ignores this entirely, and where it does indulge in specifics (welfare, crime, and the balanced budget amendment) it is only too eager to punish the poor and make meretricious promises of tax cuts to the middle class and rich...

...Running an hour and twenty minutes, Clinton's stemwinder was the longest State of the Union message on record...

...The report says nothing about users who are colorblind...

...Neither Clinton nor the new Republican Congress will make much progress in "cut[ting] yesterday' s government to solve tomorrow's problems" until they tackle spending growth in middle-class entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security...

...Clinton can give a good speech, and much of what he said last month, especially his defense of government action on behalf of the poor, needed saying...

...The president's calls for campaign finance and lobbying reform, a hike in the minimum wage, support of Head Start, continuation of the nuclear test-ban treaty, and, most urgently, adequate help for the Mexican debt crisis, are worth supporting...

...However, initial public opinion surveys indicated the speech was well received by the citizenry...

...He seemed to accept the popular idea of a balanced budget amendment...

...Whether he succeeded is unclear...

...Hags...

...It shows a green light during the "safe" period, a red light when the woman is fertile...

...And neither, frankly, do the voters...

...Clinton needed to defend government's legitimate role and recapture the public's attention, if not its respect...

...But most Americans still want him to succeed and seemed pleased that he humbly accepted the implied rebuke of November's election...