THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 11, 1994 TAG: 9412090035
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Most Republican candidates - and some Democrats - ran against President Clinton in November. He wasn't on the ballot, still has two years to serve, but if he isn't technically a lame duck it's open season on him.
Clinton's poll numbers have hit new lows. Some of his programs are popular, but he personally is not. Republicans now own both houses of Congress and the balance of power has shifted to the Capitol end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
The guilty plea of Webster Hubbell is for crimes unrelated to government service - overbilling clients and underpaying the IRS - but will return Whitewater to the fore. And Republicans obviously hope to keep that pot bubbling.
This can only deepen a poisonous atmosphere in which Clinton is mocked as unfit to be commander in chief, damned as a pot smoker, draft dodger and womanizer and alleged to be a criminal. Politics isn't beanbag, they say. But the vitriol aimed at this president is extraordinary. When was the last time religious leaders huckstered tapes accusing a president of having masterminded murders, a senator thought assassination a fit subject for humor?
Even his own party seems near to abandoning Clinton. Tom Daschle, elected to succeed George Mitchell as leader of Senate Democrats, announced that though ``we want very much to work with the White House, we will not be led by them.'' Newt Gingrich couldn't have said it better himself.
Senior advisers like Lloyd Bentsen and David Gergen are leaving the administration. Others will follow or shift to the re-election effort. Clearly Clinton finds himself in a sea of troubles. His only option is to take up arms against them. For starters, rather than entrust matters to unseasoned young aides, he's got to get pros into power. There are now plenty of unemployed Democrats - like Ann Richards and Jim Sasser - whom Clinton can start recruiting.
Clinton has begun to redraft his plans in a more centrist mode. Moderate think tanks like the Democratic Leadership Council offer an authentic New Democrat agenda that could start a healthy dialogue with conservatives on issues like welfare, jobs, crime and taxes.
Partisans may relish the prospect of two years of Clinton as President Dangerfield, the man who can't get no respect. But they are in danger of seeming sore winners. Most Americans aren't zealots or ideologues. They just want public servants to run a limited government efficiently.
So far Clinton hasn't been shown to be guilty of any crime other than not measuring up to the job of president. The people who hired him two years ago will have a chance to fire him two years hence. In the meantime, most Americans want even presidents they don't respect treated respectfully.
In a phrase that seems quaint in today's brutal political climate, Clinton is still the only president we've got. Like him or not, it ought to be possible to conduct a debate about the issues facing this country with a measure of civility, to play political hardball not beanball. Most people want leaders of both parties to start acting more like statesmen and less like guests on tabloid TV shows, to worry more about how to fix our problems, less about how to fix each other. by CNB