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Introduction: Clinton's First Year
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11703 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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2 / 1994 |
485 Words |
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When a country is not at war and is enjoying modest prosperity--say, 3 percent annual growth, declining unemployment, and low interest rates--a president will normally receive approval ratings in the high 50s or low 60s.
But after one year in office, with the nation at peace and in the middle of economic recovery, Bill Clinton continues to experience surprisingly modest public approval--around 50 percent.
What is dragging down this manifestly intelligent, omnienergetic chief executive whose Democratic Party commands large majorities in both houses of Congress?
The answer lies in Clinton's compulsion to come up with a governmental solution, usually a complicated one, for every problem under the sun. Not even the legendary FDR tried to reinvent America. The reforms pour forth from the White House like a swollen river: health-care reform, gays in the military, deficit reduction, condoms in the schools, environmental cleanup, federal funding of abortions, better yet less costly government.
A majority of the American people are withholding approval of Clinton because they are skeptical about someone who tries so hard to be all things to all people all the time.
This month's Special Report is led off by Robert Royal of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, who asserts that change for the sake of change can be not only risky but also dangerous. Clinton keeps asking whether Americans have the courage to change. Royal suggests that we should also ask ourselves whether we have the maturity to know what should not be changed or should be left to local people and communities.
The Clinton administration's impulse in foreign affairs, says Lawrence Di Rita of the Heritage Foundation, is strongly internationalist and prefers action under the cover of organizations like the United Nations. The uneven results to date have generally antagonized America's allies, emboldened our adversaries, and encouraged isolationism among Americans.
Military author Albert Santoli argues that severe budget cuts by the Clinton administration combined with the high cost of international peacekeeping are denying U.S. forces the essential field training necessary for quality performance. Senior officers, he says, are concerned that a "Nintendo War" mind-set among civilian Pentagon
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