THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 31, 1996 TAG: 9608310040
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 71 lines
After the Republican extravaganza in San Diego, many wondered whether the Democrats could compete with its made-for-TV look, its emotive tone, its reliance on Liddy-as-Oprah and its substitution of personal stories for substantive policies. They needn't have worried.
The Democratic convention in Chicago was awash in shameless sentimentality. For an immersion in so much bathos, a bathyscaph would have been a more appropriate vehicle than a locomotive. The Democrats pulled out every whistle stop including a wounded cop, a paralyzed actor, a dying sister and a rehabbed brother. It was more like group therapy than a political convention.
As Clinton chugged across heartland states he needs to carry in November dispensing proposals for family-valuing, targeted tax breaks, the convention echoed his themes with a crime night, an education night, an environment night and a sex-scandal night.
Oops. That last one wasn't scripted. But a confessional appearance by a repentant Dick Morris seeking help wouldn't have been out of place. And the president could have offered another tax credit - this one for counseling.
In fact, the case of the indiscreet aide will probably be quickly forgotten. The GOP can argue that Clinton should be judged by the company he keeps, but Morris is an equal-opportunity embarrassment. His clients also included top Republicans like Senate majority leader Trent Lott and Sen. Jesse Helms.
As to the substance of the convention, what substance? In an over-long, visionless, laundry list of a speech, Clinton promised to be a bridge to the future, not to the past. Translation: Bob Dole is no spring chicken. The Democrats spent four nights implying they'll be nurturing public servants unlike the Gingrichians. They played on fears that if Republicans controlled both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, education, the environment, Social Security and Medicare would be in peril.
But when the president proclaimed The Era of Big Government to be over, there was an unspoken corollary. The Era of Big Campaign Promises is also over. The president offered a blizzard of proposals that add up to little. Many cost nothing. Others are tax gimmicks. In a week that featured endless comparisons with 1968, here's the most important. Democrats are no longer promising the Great Society but the Affordable Society.
So, Clinton called for a ban on cop-killer bullets, on gun sales to those convicted of domestic violence, the use of wiretaps, taggants in explosives and beefed up airport security to thwart terrorists.
He proposed tax breaks to help pay for adoptions, job retraining, college tuition, and for employers who give jobs to welfare recipients. He proposed to eliminate the capital-gains tax on home sales and warmed over his $500 per child tax credit. He obviously did not propose tax simplification.
Clinton promised to clean up toxic-waste dumps, extend family leave to cover teacher conferences and medical appointments, to extend enterprise zones, to test parolees for drug use, to provide medical insurance for six months after a job loss, to ban nuclear tests.
The president promised to take the campaign high road and not stoop to personal attacks. This is shrewd two ways: Polling shows the public has grown weary of the bad mouthing and Clinton has a lot more to gain from a cease-fire since he's got more peccadilloes to attack.
Clinton also called for campaign-finance reform, a cause popular with those who scorn politics as usual including Perot voters. Since this is Clinton's last campaign, he can afford to reform campaign financing after November.
The real surprise was how little vision Clinton offered. He proposed no major initiatives for a second term. He played it safe. With 66 days till the election, both parties are now on record favoring a seemingly impossible fiscal agenda - a balanced budget, tax cuts, spurs to economic growth, the protection of entitlements and increased defense spending.
With hard right and liberal left pushed offstage, voters are left to decide which candidate they believe will actually try to pursue the moderate agenda each is promising. by CNB