THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 1, 1996 TAG: 9602010004
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Another View
SOURCE: By MICKEY EDWARDS
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
By now, most of the political commentators have declared Bill Clinton the big winner in his State of the Union showdown with the Republican Congress, which is a lot like saying the South won the Civil War because it surrendered so gallantly.
It's true that Mr. Clinton had most of the great applause lines and that in contrast Bob Dole looked a little peevish and, well - dull. But what were those great applause lines? The era of big government is over. Permanent deficit spending must come to an end. There, that'll show those Republicans.
Mr. Clinton demanded smaller, less bureaucratic government and one that lives within its means. What must Newt Gingrich have been thinking, sitting up there listening to the president demand that the Congress balance the budget and watching Ted Kennedy leap to his feet in applause?
What must Bob Dole have been thinking when Hollywood Bill Clinton started demanding that the entertainment industry clean up its act? The Democrats cheered that, too. In fact, the Democrats, knowing the whole country was watching, kept jumping to their feet cheering wildly every time Bill Clinton sounded like Ronald Reagan.
The welfare system has undermined our families - applause. Of course, Republicans were a little reluctant to join in all the cheering, because they kept adding up all the new bills the president was proposing, even as he demanded that they cut the size of government.
Appearances to the contrary, Bill Clinton did not suddenly become a Republican. But it's clear that for Bill Clinton and the Democrats to succeed, they can no longer sound like Democrats. What they have to be is kinder, gentler Republicans - at least that's what they have to sound like.
In fact, Mr. Clinton tried so hard to sound like a Republican that he sometimes went way beyond Newt Gingrich and started to sound like Pat Buchanan - one strike and you're out, uniforms in school. Ten more minutes and the president would have been leading the Republican primary in New Hampshire.
If it's true that song writers shape a nation's culture, it's clear that politically it's the Republicans who are calling the tune.
MEMO: Mr. Edwards is a former Republican congressman from Oklahoma and now
teaches at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. These
remarks were first aired on National Public Radio, ``All Things
Considered,'' Jan. 25, 1996.
by CNB