Clinton is plenty popular, and surveys show the country is more contented than at any time in 30 years. But the idea that he’s an Eisenhower without the medals–a coaster–has stung the president, who held the longest press conference of his presidency in mid-December to convince the public that he’s still an activist.
It’s a familiar pitch these days. Clinton tries to explain how big 1997 really was. He brags that last summer’s budget deal gave the country a middle-class tax cut, the largest expansion of health care (by insuring children) since Medicare in 1965, free community college for anyone who needs it and, of course, a balanced budget. (Well, not quite yet. There’s still a $23 billion deficit, but that’s a lot better than the $290 billion deficit when he came into office.)
The problem is that, with Diana, the nanny trial and the septuplets, no one much cared in 1997. The good economy gives Americans the leisure not to worry much about Washington. Those who do care will naturally ask the perennial political question, ““What have you done for me lately?''
So the State of the Union address in January is Clinton’s last shot to add something significant to his legacy. But will he? The best bets are that he’ll offer another tax cut, new support for child care and more money for after-school activities, while stressing a hard line against Saddam Hussein and support for a modified treaty on global warming.
The fate of this still-vague agenda depends not just on the Republican Congress but on the shadowy world of grand juries and pending investigations. Clinton could still trip over his old baggage in 1998. Or he might make George Bush’s mistake in 1991 and fail to spend the political capital he is hoarding. In politics, you use it–or you lose it.
