Bad Tripp
The State of the Union speech is everybody's lead. President Clinton's
desire to use any budget surpluses to "Save Social Security First" generally
leads the lists of the speech's proposals, which included calls to raise the
minimum wage, expand Medicare and child-care subsidies, as well as $7 billion
to recruit 100,000 new teachers, a "patient bill of rights" for managed-care
clients, and funding for the IMF. Clinton also used the occasion to warn
( USA
Today says "threaten") Saddam Hussein that the U.S. is determined to
deny him the ability to use weapons of mass destruction again.
The Washington Post calls the SOTU an "activist agenda" that is
the "most expensive and comprehensive" that Clinton has put forward since the
Republicans captured control of Congress in 1994. The New York Times
observes that this sweeping program comes two years after Clinton declared the
end of the era of big government, but goes on to note Clinton's alternative
description: "We have a smaller government, but a stronger nation." The
Wall Street Journal SOTU piece provides a useful
clarification here: "While federal spending has declined as a share of the
total economy, the drop has come mostly in defense spending. Meanwhile, social
spending has grown relative to the gross domestic product, particularly for the
entitlement programs....."
Noting the scandal context, the Los Angeles
Times calls last night "awkward and electrifying," while the NYT
declares, "Few other politicians of his generation--or any other--could have
pulled off a performance like that of Clinton on Tuesday night." (The paper
also passes along word that earlier in the day Clinton was nominated for the
Nobel Peace Prize. Hmmmm..that might be what it takes.)
The NYT runs a separate front-page piece about the Iraq situation that notes the increasing tempo of
American-British strike planning. The piece also reports that the U.S. hopes to
get support from Saudia Arabia for any action against Iraq, in the form of
permission to use the country's air bases.
There's a lot of front-page coverage of Hillary Clinton's remarks yesterday
on the "Today" show, in which she described Kenneth Starr as a "politically
motivated prosecutor" who is part of "a vast right-wing conspiracy." Several
dailies report that Starr dismissed her comments as "nonsense." And USAT
states that Sen. Lauch Faircloth, a Starr ally, responded by calling Mrs.
Clinton a ""frustrated woman.lashing out without foundation."
The LAT runs a front-page piece reporting on the appearance yesterday before Starr's grand jury by Clinton's
personal secretary, Betty Currie. Prosecutors are interested in a series of
visits--approved by Currie--Monica L. made to the White House when the former
intern no longer worked there. They are also, says the paper, trying to
determine whether Currie tried to make contact with Lewinsky from the White
House on the day Lewinsky was first interrogated by Starr's FBI agents.
The WP reports that Monica's lawyers and Ken Starr are moving closer
to some sort of deal under which she would testify about whether she had a
sexual relationship with the president as well as--and this would be a big chip
for Starr--whether Clinton urged her to deny this Date of the Union. The
Post also says that more than a year prior to secretly taping Monica
Lewinsky, Linda Tripp tried to sell a book about the Clinton White House,
asking the conservative publisher Alfred Regnery for something in the
neighborhood of $500,000. Her agent? Lucianne Goldberg. The working title of
the four-page proposal was, "Behind Closed Doors: What I Saw Inside the Clinton
White House." One chapter was titled, "The President's Women."
Looking for a college campus that actually doesn't have enough
political correctness? Check out the University of Florida. There, reports the
WP , the university's white president, John Lombardi got to keep his job
after he described his boss, Chancellor Adam Herbert, who is black, as an
"Oreo." Legislators and powerful alumni came to Lombardi's defense.
Media predictions: At one time feared to be old hat, "Primary Colors" should
now do big box office. And the
round-the-clock-more-lawyers-turned-commentators-than-
is-compatible-with-healthy-digestion coverage of the upcoming Paula Jones trial
should reach O.J. proportions.
If you thought that Dick Morris, now back in Bill Clinton's "crisis
cabinet," was going to make things smoother at the White House, you don't know
Dick. Maureen Dowd quotes the recovering toe sucker's explanation for why the
president might have a wandering eye: ".Let's assume, O.K., that his sexual
relationship with Hillary is not all it's supposed to be, let's assume that
some of the allegations that Hillary--sometimes not necessarily being into
regular sex with men--might be true."
