Clinton Must Reply to Attacks

Pundits, political reporters and various hangers-on were quick to congratulate the Clinton campaign on the president’s “clever restraint” in not responding to Bob Dole’s character attacks during the San Diego debate.

Now, many of the same interpreters of the ’96 presidential campaign are congratulating President Bill Clinton for not responding to Dole’s attacks on the campaign trail. “So smart,” they chortle, “let the president’s paid advertising handle the response.”

With all due respect to James S. Brady (who endorses Clinton’s character in one ad) and Marc Klaas (father of the slain Polly and star of another Clinton character spot), the president was wrong to avoid Dole in San Diego and wrong now for not responding on the campaign trail. Come on, say the pundits (many of whom have never worked in a campaign), just look at the polls--Clinton won the debate and is winning the war.

Maybe.

True, it would take a titanic event or divine intervention for Dole to overtake the president. So the reasoning goes, why respond to Dole’s charges? Dole’s scorched-earth policy has only increased his own negatives. This, too, is true. So why respond?

Well, for one thing, it’s the right thing to do and will pay political dividends. (Sure, Bob, explain that one, or maybe Walter F. Mondale’s 49-state loss is becoming more understandable).

To buy this reasoning, you have to accept the fact that Clinton does have a character problem. That problem can best be summed up by a focus-group comment I read last week. A suburban housewife, registered Republican, is going to vote for Clinton. Dole is too old, she says, and too mean (reflecting his attacks on Clinton), but her vote for Clinton is a reluctant one. “He’s such a good campaigner, almost too good. Sometimes I get the feeling he’s conning me.” On the Dole attacks she says about Clinton: “Why doesn’t he just say he screwed up on some of this stuff.” Exactly.

It would be refreshing for the president to do a little mea culpa. To wit: “The FBI files were terribly mismanaged and it was a mistake and will never happen again.” Or, “We didn’t handle the travel office well. We were new and made mistakes. To those who suffered, I apologize.”

This isn’t some sentimental mea culpa, it’s politics. People like this president. If he admitted mistakes and apologized, they would, I believe, applaud him and, in the process, make Dole’s continuing attacks seem all the more vicious.

This is about Clinton’s standing with the electorate now--but also his standing at the dawn of his second term. It’s also about the Democrats’ chances of taking one or both houses of Congress.

First, Congress. Democrats now have a real opportunity to retake the House and maybe the Senate. As Dole continues to slide, more and more GOP incumbents and challengers are ignoring him--except to embrace his character attacks on the president. They are beginning to subtly turn Clinton’s own message back on him.

The Clinton campaign reminds voters that the president is the only one between them and a reactionary Congress hell bent on tearing apart the federal government and its various social safety nets. Now Republicans are saying the GOP majority is the only safeguard to keep Clinton in line in a second term. Translation: If you think this guy is slippery and isn’t telling the whole story, then reelect us to be sure we keep his feet to the fire.

Sounds too sophisticated for the average voter? Maybe, but remember, we are talking about 10% of the voters, on average, who remain undecided in key House and Senate races. These voters are engaged now and listening. They can understand subtle messages.

As to Clinton’s standing with the electorate as he begins his second term, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that a Republican prosecutor and a Republican Congress will go after Clinton with a vengeance after the election. And remember, we will also have hundreds of political reporters with nothing to do but follow the character charges with gusto.

The only protection the president will have during this assault is the good will of the people who reelected him--hopefully, with a landslide. If he has taken his character case to the voters before the election and they respond with a big vote, he will, at a minimum, send a message to all Republicans that he has many people in his corner who heard his answer to Dole’s outrageous attacks and accepted it.

Beyond that, a discussion with the American people on these attacks will give Clinton the best gift to begin his second term--a clear conscience.