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Jewish World Review Feb. 2, 2000 /29 Shevat, 5760
Chris Matthews
Prudence is the key. He can give speeches so rousing and
partisan they will shake the rafters loose. But to win the
majority of votes Democrats need next November, the
president must match the noise level with content.
Put bluntly, the swing voters (restless Democrats,
independents and moderate Republicans) need to hear
and see why they should trust Clinton's party to another
presidential term.
Other Democrats confess a mixed or negative view of
Clinton. Many like his policies but disapprove of the man
personally. A smaller number like neither.
It comes as no surprise that the poll found no significant
number of Democrats who like Clinton the man but
dislike Clinton the president.
No. The recurring debate in this country, especially
among those Americans who vote, is what to say about
Clinton's behavior, particularly his over-the-top lying
about the sleazy fund-raising campaign of 1995-96 and
the sleazy Monica Lewinsky affair with which it
coincided.
"We invited foreign governments into coffees at the White House at a time
when critical national security decisions were being made, and being made
about China," Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., said last week. "It was embarrassing
and it made me sick."
Kerrey, who fought Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 1992 and now
backs Bill Bradley, is by no means alone in his condemnation. Ask voters what
bothers them most about the Clinton era and they are likely to cite, even more
than Monica, the notorious conversion of the White House into a Motel 6 for
Clinton-Gore fund-raisers, the nightly rental of the Lincoln Bedroom for
campaign cash and the employment of the American presidency itself as a
one-stop-shop for foreign influence-peddling.
Whether Hillary Rodham Clinton wins a Senate seat this autumn in New York
is out of her husband's hands.
But to help the Democrats win nationally in November, President Clinton can
and should deal with this small but raging undercurrent in his own party.
The Iowa polling shows that Al Gore, his vice president, does especially well
among those partisans who back Clinton both politically and personally, not so
well among those who cheer the president but question his character.
To keep the White House in Democratic hands this fall, President Clinton
needs to show that he gets the message, that he accepts the personal blame for
the taint he has given both his party and the
01/31/00: Which GOPer is willing to pay for his positions?
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