Clintonites Ponder How To Revive A Wounded Presidency
By MIKE FEINSILBER
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) Overnight last week, President Clinton
switched from confessor in chief to commander in chief. Now Clinton
and advisers are wrestling with how to keep the nation focused over
the long haul on his leadership rather than his indiscretions with
Monica Lewinsky.
Their answer, although skeptics abound, is to get back to
popular basics. Advisers say Clinton is strongest when he is among
the people, pushing down-to-earth solutions to everyday concerns.
They expect him to doggedly follow that course after his Martha's
Vineyard, Mass., vacation ends and when he returns from a week's
foreign travel that also will have the benefit of casting him in a
presidential light.
"Clinton is not going to be incapacitated by this incident,"
predicts Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, chairman of the Democratic
National Committee, who expects the president to come out "full
force fighting for those values he has been fighting for."
White House adviser Paul Begala also says Clinton won't give up
pushing for health maintenance reform and for money to repair and
replace old schools and hire 100,000 more teachers.
"As Al Jolson and Ronald Reagan said, 'You ain't seen nothing
yet,"' Begala said, predicting that scandal or no scandal
Clinton will emerge by the time Congress quits for the year with a
string of victories on matters of moment to Main Street America.
Outside the inner circle, observers are not so sanguine. Some
doubt that any strategy can get Clinton back on the initiative
after he belatedly admitted an inappropriate relationship with Ms.
Lewinsky, a former White House intern. They view his presidency as
virtually over, able only to react to events, such as the African
embassy bombings that led to last week's widely supported U.S.
military attacks in Sudan and Afghanistan.
"I don't think many people are going to pay much attention to
him," said political scientist Merle Black. "A lot of Democrats
are finding very little use for him; this is now an admitted
liar."
"He's obviously lost the bully pulpit of the presidency, and
when you lose that, that's about all there is," said Robert
Hardesty, a onetime speechwriter for Lyndon B. Johnson who has been
observing presidents for years. "As far as I can see, anything he
sends to Congress from here on is going to be dead on arrival."
Former House Republican leader Bob Michel said Clinton crippled
himself by the need to admit that he had misled the nation for
seven months on his relationship with Ms. Lewinsky.
"In politics, once you've defaulted on your word you really
lose your credibility, period," Michel said. "What he did he's
never going to be able to escape."
Clinton would be wise to lie low for the time being and
"reflect on his relationship to the voters," said David Gergen,
who has been a communications adviser to three Republican
administrations as well as to Clinton.
Ultimately, he said, the president may find it useful to return
to the nation with a fuller exposition on his relationship with Ms.
Lewinsky and his lack of candor with the country. Some have
suggested a one-on-one television interview reminiscent of his 1992
"60 Minutes" appearance; it had the effect of neutralizing
questions about his relationship with Gennifer Flowers. White House
officials have not ruled out another attempt to explain himself.
Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster, said Clinton would regain
his footing by going to the country promoting health, education and
Social Security proposals. "Seventy-five percent of the public
wants this president to keep on being president," Mellman said,
summarizing polls.
"He goes around the country and gets a very enthusiastic and
warm reception and a lot of people on editorial pages will be
forced to scratch their heads and say, 'Wait a minute; maybe we
misunderstand where the public is," he said.
Just as Richard Nixon did with a tour of the Middle East in the
troubled summer of 1974, Clinton will seek succor overseas. At the
end of this month he flies to Russia, which is threatened by a
worsening political and financial crisis and needs a friend. He
also visits Northern Ireland and Ireland, where he is wildly
popular and will be greeted as a peacemaker.
But foreign travel didn't do much for Nixon. Investigators kept
investigating in his absence. Two months later, Nixon was forced to
resign.
And so far the Republican Congress has ignored Clinton's
big-ticket items. Tobacco legislation fell by the wayside. Campaign
reform, Medicare extension, education proposals, all got bogged
down. Even Democrats are keeping their distance.
Will selling his ideas be even more difficult now?
Ann Lewis, Clinton's communications director, ventures only
this: "We're going to find out."
But she pins all hope on Clinton's issues. "The public really
wants to see action," she said. "The public is not pleased to
hear a congressman say, 'I'm not going to vote for school
modernization because I'm mad at the president."'
(25 Aug 1998 01:28 EDT)
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