White House: Next Dismissal Should Be Starr

White House aides Thursday seized on the dismissal of Paula Corbin Jones’ lawsuit and sought to turn it into a broader lesson: It’s time for the other investigations of President Clinton to end as well.

“Starr should . . . wrap this up quickly,” presidential counselor Rahm Emanuel said, referring to independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr’s inquiry into possible perjury. “Why are we having an investigation on a parallel matter after the case has been dismissed?”

“This raises the level of questions about Ken Starr’s investigation,” echoed Ann Lewis, a White House communications official. “Is it a question of merit, or is it fueled by partisan opposition to the president?”

Starr, who has been investigating charges ranging from possible fraud in Arkansas land deals to possible perjury by a former White House intern who allegedly had a sexual relationship with Clinton, replied Thursday that he does not intend to quit.

But White House officials said the prosecutor was not the immediate target of their invective. Instead, they said, they are seeking to influence voters--many of whom have rallied around Clinton in his time of legal troubles--and, through them, the Congress that will consider Starr’s findings.

“This is a democracy, and the most important court is still the public,” Lewis said.

In a well-organized phalanx bristling with newly drafted talking points, the president’s official defenders fanned out to the media, painting Starr as a political partisan and making the most of the Jones case’s sudden demise.

On paper, U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright did not exonerate Clinton of charges that he made a crude sexual advance to Jones in a Little Rock, Ark., hotel room in 1991. Wright merely found that the incident, if true, would not constitute sexual assault or sexual harassment.

But on the nation’s airwaves, White House aides turned that relatively narrow legal judgment into a much broader assertion: that the president has been “vindicated,” not only in the Jones case but, by implication, on a whole range of charges.

The stepped-up offensive against Starr was only part of a larger White House strategy to make the most of Wright’s ruling.

Clinton, who returned Thursday from a 12-day trip to Africa, plans a busy public schedule today, focusing on his favorite domestic priorities:jobs, education, crime, Social Security, health care and tobacco legislation. He will press the message that he has devoted himself to key national issues while his opponents have wallowed in scandal.

Next week, the president will give a speech in Washington highlighting Democratic efforts to reduce gun-related crime, conduct a town hall meeting in the Midwest to discuss Social Security reform and speak in Chicago to promote a proposal for $22 billion in federal funding for school construction.

By design, the events are unlikely to include any time for Clinton to answer questions from the news media--since aides know that reporters are likely to ask the president for more detailed comments on the charges against him.

“He’s out there talking to people about issues that are important to their lives--and your point is that he should be talking to a bunch of reporters instead?” Lewis chided.

Both Democrats and Republicans said the dismissal of the Jones lawsuit, which had appeared likely to dominate the news for several months, could open the way to more national debate on other issues.

“The biggest impact is that it should make it easier for us to talk to the American people about issues important to their lives in an age of scarce news holes,” Lewis said. (“News hole” is a newspaper term for the space devoted to news.)

“It will create a news vacuum,” agreed Rep. David M. McIntosh (R-Ind.), a leading conservative. “It creates an opportunity for President Clinton and the Democrats to fill in the space with their own agenda . . . and we [Republicans] have to come back with our agenda.”

Public opinion analysts said Clinton has gained public support during the last two months, when charges of sexual misconduct have dominated the news, in part because he has insisted that he is devoting his attention to issues of greater importance.

A poll conducted last weekend by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, for example, found public approval of Clinton’s performance at a strong 65%. More important, pollster Andrew Kohut said, Clinton’s popularity appears to be carrying over to Democrats in Congress. “He’s got scandal coattails!” Kohut said.

At the same time, the allegations have taken a serious toll on Clinton’s credibility and public esteem as a person. Asked what they believe Clinton’s presidency will be remembered for, 56% of the public replied “scandals.” Only 14% cited his management of the economy or the federal budget.

Republicans in Congress, granting Clinton his popularity, have acknowledged that their interest in impeaching the president--never high to begin with--has ebbed even further with the ruling in Little Rock.

“Unless there is an open-and-shut case, the kind which would result in a resignation, as happened with President Nixon, I do not think there ought be an impeachment proceeding,” said Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).

Instead, both parties are trying to turn the issue to their advantage in congressional elections in November.

That may not be easy for either side.

“The reality is that the president was doing well with the public before these issues flared up and he’s still doing well,” a senior Clinton advisor said. “It’s easy to exaggerate how much trouble the president was in last week and easy to exaggerate the degree to which he is home free now.

“The great imponderable is turnout,” he added. “The investigations could have a boomerang effect of getting Democrats to come out and vote. If it looks like a witch hunt, it could do us some good.”

In other words, the president needs Ken Starr?

The advisor laughed. “Naaaah.”