We’re into week three of Clinton II unofficially and already seeing the president wobble and waffle on the big issues of the day: balanced budget amendment, Cabinet makeup and Bosnia peacekeeping to name a few.
The wireless telecom industry is up in arms over the FCC’s latest auction plan, 100 percent driven-as PCIA President Jay Kitchen accurately states-by White House election-year budget interests. Who can blame Clinton? Nearly half the $6.5 billion concessions sought by the president in the FY 97 appropriations package will be paid for by 2.3 GHz license sales.
Talk about turnabouts, Hundt & Co. are contemplating a nationwide license after pooh-poohing the idea when MCI and others raised it early in the PCS rulemaking several years ago.
Clinton’s newest line, “the vital center,” is in fact not new, borrowed like many issues (budget, crime, values) from the GOP for the campaign.
As far as election postmortems, don’t rack your brain. Dole and his people blew it. This thing was over before it started.
While Clinton’s folks polled every vowel and consonant before the president breathed a word in public, Dole’s campaign fought each other and failed to articulate a message and a grand strategy. Clearly, it wasn’t meant to be.
But it wasn’t for a lack of character the Kansan lost. When urged to say the same thing to every campaign crowd, Dole stubbornly refused, saying it was intellectually dishonest. He just couldn’t pull it off.
Republicans, angry as hell at Clinton, have to walk a fine line. They’d love to entangle all the president’s men in congressional hearings on questionable foreign campaign contributions and watch indictments hit Clintonites so hard they see Starrs. But Americans-those who bothered getting out of bed to vote-distrust both major political parties and think Ross Perot’s a nut, but like what he says and respect him for his rugged individuality.
If GOP lawmakers get obsessed with hearings on Clinton, they run the risk of being booted out two years from now by voters more concerned with jobs, education, violence and the economy, stupid.
Clinton, for his part, is governing now for history instead of for re-election but may not know how to stop campaigning. So who will Clinton be this go-round: the New Democrat, the spend and tax liberal, the Great Conciliator or the Great Pretender?
Say a prayer for the Pretender.
