The Meaning of the Victory of Bill Clinton and Al Gore : Agonized by recession and gridlock, America asks for change

The force of change hit last night with the roar and rush of a sonic boom.

Suddenly 12 years of Ronald Reagan and George Bush--with their shares of notable successes and notable failures--were history. Suddenly a new figure--relatively young, relatively unknown outside of Arkansas, but obviously intelligent, talented, shrewd and extremely determined--will become the new commander in chief, leader of the Western World and 42nd President of the United States.

THE TRIUMPH: How Gov. Bill Clinton, on his very first run for the White House, seized the great prize is now the stuff of instant political legend. Soon to become the youngest President since John F. Kennedy, Clinton and his running mate, Sen. Al Gore, laid out a high-energy, coast-to-coast campaign that rarely seemed to sleep and rarely lost sight of its basic theme. As campaign signs in the Little Rock headquarters bluntly reminded workers: “The economy, stupid.”

The Arkansas Democrat took on an incumbent President who, though crippled by a febrile economy and a public perception that he was not interested in domestic policy, fought back like the cornered prizefighter. But Clinton hung in--and by the end of a bone-wearying campaign had lost his voice but not his message or his momentum. Now the torch will be passed to a younger generation--as it was in 1960.

THE MANDATE: Let’s hope Clinton and Gore can bring that same level of youthful verve and determination to governing. Tuesday’s election not only produced a clear mandate but also brought to an end the enervating process of a presidential campaign, which at times is too much campaign and not enough presidential . So now let’s leave the name-calling behind and get down to business.

The American people, in a tremendous turnout, voted for change. A change in the economy. A change away from divisiveness and in the direction of inclusion. A change away from preoccupation with foreign policy and toward a more complete presidency, one that includes domestic priorities.

One fear about Clinton was that if one peeled away all the layers of moderation-camouflage, there was no more underneath than another unthinking, unblinking tax-and-spend Democrat. But Clinton persuaded Americans not to read his lips but to study his plan, which has nothing in it about large-scale tax increases, only hikes on the rich. The President-elect now owes it to the people to deal with the recession and the deficit without destroying America-- allegedly in order to save it--with taxation.

THE AGENDA: The most powerful force in this election was not the personality or character of either Clinton or Bush but the deeply troubled American economy. If the President-elect has any doubt that he owes victory mainly to the miserable state of the economy--and the urgency of addressing the deficit--let him remind himself of the triumphant Bush before Congress after Desert Storm. Any President is only as good as his last victory. For Clinton, his first taste of battle will be with the frighteningly resilient recession. That’s the mandate--get America moving again.

Clinton will need to work out and build support for a bold but precisely prioritized economic plan to tackle the deficit, reform the banking system, hammer out a new re-industrialization policy, wrestle with health care and keep moving forward on Mexican free trade and other such opportunities.

President Clinton must also help bring America together again. He must convey a sense of renewed community amid all our differences. Perhaps with a pointedly diversified staffing of his own Administration--and with the rhetoric of inclusion--he can use his office to lead the nation to a greater emotional comfort with its ethnic and cultural complexity. He could certainly make more balanced and representative judicial appointments than his predecessor.

The new Administration must help lift the American spirit, instill a willingness in people to set aside their differences and past quarrels and set examples that intensify everyone’s practice of tolerance. There will continue to be divisions on issues, to be sure; no one leader can neutralize all the poison. But America the beautiful--the increasingly complex and multicultural society that is like no other in the world--will come apart without presidential leadership that stays in overdrive to keep this nation together.

Congratulations to Bill Clinton and Al Gore. We now hope all Americans can go forward together.