THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, March 13, 1995                 TAG: 9503100040
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   50 lines

CLINTON HAS KICKED OFF CAMPAIGN '96 WILL GOP PANDER, TOO?

President Clinton addressed veterans last week. They gave him a chilly reception until he began making attractive campaign promises. Then the crowd warmed up. In other words, Campaign '96 has begun.

Clinton promised to protect veterans from Republican budget-cutting and to take Gulf War Syndrome seriously. Earlier he submitted a budget that reneges on his earlier commitment to deficit reduction. So the president is staking out a position as the defender of entitlements. This isn't good for the country's fiscal health but could do wonders for his political well-being.

Republicans won a majority in both houses of Congress by promising to balance the budget, cut taxes and reduce wasteful government spending. That sounds great. But when it comes time to actually do it, the knights in shining armor can wind up looking like heartless hatchet men.

Every cut is a constituency alienated. A lot of people watch PBS. A lot rely on school lunches and student loans. Even more believe they are entitled to Social Security, Medicare and veterans' benefits.

The Republicans could stake out the high ground, cutting all programs without fear or favor in order to put our fiscal house in order. That would set up a classic confrontation in 1996 between a Clinton trying to buy votes and Republicans doing the right thing.

But Republicans are beginning to look as if they are made of no sterner stuff. For all their high-flown rhetoric, few have expressed any willingness to treat farm subsidies as harshly as welfare, for example. Instead of pandering to the working class and the poor as Democrats do, the GOP could appear to be pandering to the prosperous.

That's not a politically comfortable position to assume, yet several provisions of the Contract With America constitute huge windfalls for corporations. Many of the tax breaks Republicans tout would do more for the investing class than the working class.

The public wants reform and may even agree to sacrifices if everyone shares in the pain. But there's no appetite for reform if that simply means changing one breed of pig rooting in the government trough for another.

If it begins to look like business as usual in Washington, voters will look to their own self-interest. If the perception grows that Democrats protect the average man while Republicans care more about fat cats, the GOP could squander a historic opportunity to shift voter allegiances for a generation. by CNB