Clinton and the Left
Barkan, Joanne
ational Public Radio wrapped up its NI presidential campaign coverage in November with a piece on the Clinton waffle, that is, the candidate's habit of slipping from side to side on...
...So why underestimate the significance of having a new president whose election campaign made an explicit and successful pitch for activist government...
...Reagan Democrats, suburbanites, and young people have joined with the regular Democratic base around a progressive program...
...the newly employed spend and pay taxes...
...In contrast, having yet another chief executive who assumes that Adam Smith (or even John Maynard Keynes) had the last best word on market economies would translate into a further drop in U.S...
...Such things as how to create an American version of the Japanese collaboration between government, business, and universities...
...Whether or not that legislation ends up on his desk depends in some measure on the labor movement and the left...
...Do you support such legislation...
...Clinton on unity and racial tolerance...
...His long WINTER • 1993 • 5 experience governing a small state will serve him well...
...But no scenario I've seen explains convincingly how to convert military industries, employing hundreds of thousands of workers, to competitive, nonmilitary production...
...The economy...
...You can almost hear the filibusters now...
...There's certainly truth in this declaration, but it's a partial and, more important, a superficial truth...
...Said Clinton, "I'll sign it...
...Nothing, therefore, frustrated our hopes more during the last twelve years than the conviction of most Americans that government only fouls things up...
...What did they like to talk about most...
...To do otherwise means throwing away the best opportunities we've had in a quarter-century...
...Wilson wrote in the New York Times (March 17, 1992) that Clinton's message could succeed because it included "two important aspects: an explicit acknowledgment of the racial tension in America and the need for leadership to unite, not divide, the races...
...Surely he knows that plaid looks tacky in history books...
...the deficit goes up only a little...
...Dole says he will personally see to it that Clinton does none of that taxing-and-spending or deficit raising...
...One factor in favor of resolute leadership is pride...
...If we get very lucky, the rosy scenario will play this way: consumer confidence rises...
...Clinton on campaign finance reform...
...We all know the mess we're in after twelve years of supply-side wackiness, military Keynesianism, and free-market free-for-all...
...infrastructure spending puts people to work...
...ational Public Radio wrapped up its NI presidential campaign coverage in November with a piece on the Clinton waffle, that is, the candidate's habit of slipping from side to side on disputed issues...
...It's too early to say how big the fudge factor will be...
...In addition, as fine as the apprenticeship and college loan programs sound, no one has demonstrated why graduates should expect to find good jobs—unless, of course, growth rates run quite high...
...Sounding like Dracula salivating in the bridal suite of a D.C...
...Said Donaldson, "That's not what I asked...
...If he does, we'll have made a good start (the package contains spending limits, some public financing, and curbs on the flow of "sewer money" for "party building...
...The more relevant conclusion to draw from the interview clip is that we now have a president who will sign labor law reforms...
...Remember the commentators predicting disaster because Clinton was bruised beyond repair, and no one liked him anyway...
...One woman in the group summed up the Democratic candidate this way: "If you asked his favorite color, he'd say 'plaid.' " From then on, when Clinton fudged an answer, staff members would say, "He's gone plaid...
...Clinton has stated unequivocally that he will sign the legislation vetoed by George Bush last May...
...the second does...
...Donaldson: "I asked if you support it...
...I'll sign it...
...But even the most immoderate optimist can't ignore two major problems...
...It gave the impression that folks needed to prove their radical credentials in relation to a candidate who promised many, but not all, good things...
...Well, when you get right down to it, so do we...
...Many leftists spent the campaign season repeating the "Clinton-is-no-liberal" mantra in a tone that alternated between whiny and smug...
...And then there's Bob Dole, Senate minority leader and commander-in-chief of unhappy Republicans...
...Sooner rather than later, we should begin organizing creatively on a score of fronts that will open in the next few months...
...No single piece of legislation could democratize the American political system more than sweeping campaign finance reform...
...Will the president wriggle out of signing...
...When the primary elections ended last June, it looked like the Democratic party had itself another 6 • DISSENT loser as candidate...
...education and job training programs start to pay off in higher productivity and growth...
...If he signs, will he pursue further campaign reform...
...Much of the left has long advocated universal, rather than means-tested, programs to unite Americans across class and racial lines...
...Wonky...
...According to an article in the New York Times (October 31, 1992) entitled "Gore and Clinton Share Language of Their Own," the running mates regularly topped off a full day of campaigning with a few hours of intense conversation in the back of their bus...
...No one worries about an ability to compromise...
...living standards and a rise in social strife...
...This approach did create the winning coalition in November...
...What's troubling is a compulsion to compromise—and its flip side, insufficient will to make enemies when necessary or abandon one side in a dispute...
...It's been a long time coming...
...Going plaid...
...Clinton on government...
...over time and along with Clinton's strong commitment to racial tolerance, it might substantially improve the climate in our country...
...If Clinton can catch and pump up an upswing in the business cycle, it might...
...But perhaps he'll have more options and a more demanding progressive constituency (including us) than he did in Arkansas...
...Only die-hard Republicans should refrain from wishing Bill Clinton success...
...All that seems like an age ago, and, in a way, it was...
...We'd get four more years of George Bush...
...Do you support it...
...it should help Clinton to work with lawmakers and build coalitions, as it has in the past...
...They'd have said, I believe, what they were saying during the entire presidential campaign: Bill Clinton is not a liberal, and he's no friend of labor's...
...As tiresome as the attitude became during the campaign, it will spell disaster during the Clinton presidency if it prompts people to stand back and just wait for Bill to mess up...
...I support the existing law," Clinton replied, "but if Congress sends me new legislation, I'll sign it...
...Taking a closer look at the possibilities for the next four years, I'd say Clinton's overall rating on the liberal scale counts for much less than the following: his understanding of managed capitalism, his belief in activist government, his commitment to social unity and racial tolerance, and, finally, his willingness to sign into law campaign finance reforms...
...Having a president who not only is familiar with the neocorporatist arrangements that characterize Western Europe and Japan but is frankly nuts about the subject gives us at least a shot at making a long overdue transition...
...he has a good feel and idiosyncratic passion for the transformation of policy legislation into the stuff of real life...
...Like all egos robust enough to complete the trip to the White House, Clinton's ego looks forward to the admiration of future generations...
...The political pressure to keep plants open will be tremendous...
...I've heard skeptics answer that Clinton could blow the opportunity, leaving us worse off than before...
...You bet, and it bodes well for us...
...The bad news is that Bob Dole is his chaperon...
...If we don't like the specifics of the new administration's proposals (health care looks highly botchable), it's obviously our job to try to get them changed...
...deficit reduction gets serious...
...The first of these doesn't lie completely within Clinton's control...
...It's true that the combination of economic woes, bureaucratic footdragging, and pork-barrel politics in Congress may squelch Clinton's effort to rehabilitate government...
...and a discussion of programs intended for all low- to moderate-income groups, not just minorities...
...In Newsweek's special election issue, reporters describe a voter focus group organized last April by Clinton's campaign staff...
...And so on...
...When the report ended, I speculated on how most leftists would have reacted to it...
...It would both redefine who gets to play the election game and increase the political independence of winners...
...If Clinton goes plaid under lobbying pressure, he'll jeopardize a host of initiatives that he supported (or sort-of-supported) during the campaign: prochoice legislation, automobile fuel-efficiency standards, gun control beyond the Brady bill, the workerreplacement ban, and more...
...The Republican hold on the White House has been shaken if not broken...
...Given the deficit albatross around Clinton's neck, he came up with a respectable economic program...
...Early in the campaign season, sociologist William Julius Wilson understood that Clinton had adopted the most effective approach for building a multiracial coalition...
...hotel, he announced the day after the election, "The good news is Bill Clinton gets a honeymoon in Washington...
...But who could give it a better try...
...Will it work in time for the New Hampshire primary in 1996...
...Perhaps the good government we want (organizer of top-notch, universal health care, active labor-market policies, and so on) is an unobtainable goal in the United States, but any progress we make in that direction is worthwhile...
...Listeners heard journalist Sam Donaldson ask Clinton if he supported federal legislation to prohibit right-to-work laws at the state level...
...This is a pretty sour response considering that Clinton created the opportunity...
...Clinton on capitalism...
...Pundits remark that Clinton has a naive belief in the effectiveness of government...
...He's watched government programs play out in communities...
...a new generation is assuming leadership of the country and in the process has finally ended the war in Vietnam...
Vol. 40 • January 1993 • No. 1
