THE PRESIDENT : Clinton Returns to Center Stage--and Proceeds to Hold It for a While

Washington’s tired, old conventional wisdom has it that President Bill Clinton’s State of the Union speech was way too long. Wrong. From my standpoint, it was a tad short. In the eyes of the Washington talking heads, Clinton should have taken their advice and given a short, pithy speech that would have re-established the credibility and direction of his presidency. Give me a break! Any chance to define Clinton’s presidency in one speech ended with the midterm elections on Nov. 8.

What Clinton did in those glorious 81 minutes on Tuesday was remind the GOP congressional majority that Presidents (even this one) can command center stage, forcing Republicans into the role of bit players. A role, by the way, they thought they had left behind after 40 years.

And they didn’t like it one bit. In fact, they resorted to childlike behavior, waving their little “contract with America” books, looking every bit like Mao’s followers waving the little red book. Worse was their pouting out loud that Clinton had stolen their ideas. Whiners can be tedious.

No, this was not a speech to redefine a presidency or to beg for cooperation. This speech was as much about Clinton setting up the Marquess of Queensbury rules of engagement between a Democratic President and a Republican Congress. It may also have given him a surprising boost with the public. Polls suggest Clinton helped himself with voters who gave him high marks for the speech overall, 79% positive in one poll. Perhaps more important was a CBS poll showing that, after the speech, 74% say they now have a clearer idea of what Clinton stands for. Eat your heart out, Newt.

Yes, it was a long speech, but so what. Ratings show the public stayed with him throughout--in very large numbers. Another blow to Washington conventional wisdom, which insisted the public was so bored that they turned off their TV sets in droves.

Clinton needed time to touch a lot of bases concerning the infamous “contract with America” that, before Tuesday night, was to be the legislative holy grail for the 104th Congress. In their heady rush to anoint the contract as the law of the land, Republicans forgot that they still have to face a President who has an ample supply of veto pens. For those who believed that the “contract with America” would not be disputed by Clinton, better think again. That message came through loud and clear--and Clinton never used the word “veto.” Or, for that matter, even mentioned the “contract with America.”

To know that House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) got it, all you had to do was watch the Speaker’s face as Clinton trumped the Republicans left and right--in some cases even stealing their own ideas--to understand what the real success of this State of the Union was all about. Gingrich and his firebrands came to understand that Clinton is back in the game--and not nearly as irrelevant as they had thought.

In one policy area after another, Clinton set the ground rules for engagement. Take welfare. He reminded the Republicans that when he was a governor, he had the high honor of working with the Reagan Administration to write the last welfare-reform bill, back in 1988, and, therefore, welfare reform is not something being brought to you by the “contract with America” but, rather, a work in progress brought to you by Ronald Reagan and Clinton. There will be welfare reform, he agreed--but not reform that punishes children for the ills of their parents.

Then, of course, there is the issue of cutting government spending. The President proposed $130 billion in spending cuts, cutting 60 public-housing programs down to three and getting rid of more than 100 government programs and agencies that aren’t necessary, like the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Pity the poor new House Republican Budget Committee chairman, John R. Kasich of Ohio. He had been talking about cutting the ICC just last week, but with all the news about Gingrich’s book, Kasich couldn’t get authorship of the idea. Well, Mr. Budget Chairman, it’s Clinton’s idea now. Welcome to the big leagues.

But Clinton didn’t just agree with GOP ideas or try to steal them; he also put boundaries on what he will accept in negotiations on big issues and what he won’t. Oh, sure, he is for cutting government--he reminded them of the $63 billion already saved by Vice President Al Gore’s reinventing government. But, he said, we must be careful we don’t cut so deeply that, for example, the good people of California (read 52 electoral votes) wouldn’t be able to get all that FEMA money to help them with their floods, earthquakes and fires these past years.

And, by the way, he wants to cut government but he demands that Social Security and Medicare and veterans and education be protected. The Republicans rose to their feet in agreement. In the back of Clinton’s mind, I am sure there was this thought: “Boys and girls, last week you said you would protect Social Security. I just upped the ante to kids, veterans and old people’s health. Now I dare you to try to cut them.”

The most glorious moment of the evening, for me at least, was when Clinton warned the Republicans not to repeal the Brady bill or the ban on semi-automatic weapons--two issues supported by more than 80% of the public in recent polls. With this, Democrats leaped to their feet while Gingrich and all the Republicans were glued to theirs--glue, of course, paid for by the National Rifle Assn. It’s going to be interesting to see how the Republicans pay off the gun nuts without committing political suicide by trying to repeal these popular laws. But then again, the Republicans are in charge, so it’s their problem now.

There was, of course, the now traditional salute to ordinary citizens who were sitting in the House gallery. It began with Reagan recognizing one person. Clinton had six, including a Medal of Honor winner who fought in Iwo Jima--Jack Lucas from Hattiesberg, Miss. It just so happens that this is the 50th anniversary of the successful battle for Iwo Jima. Only Presidents get to do that kind of thing. As Republicans rose to their feet six different times, you got the feeling that they knew they had been had.

So let the games begin. Newt and Bob and Phil and Dick (Armey, that is), you won a big victory in November and you’ve got a lot of proposals, some pretty good, many misguided. You believe the voters gave you a mandate for the contract. Maybe a little. You demand a revolution. Fine. But Clinton reminded you all on Tuesday night that you can’t do it alone. There are other players in this game. Welcome to the ring.*