From: paul@hsh.com
Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton
Subject: Not Even Inaugurated, Breaking Promises Already
Date: 19 Nov 92 15:53:07 GMT
Organization: HSH Associates

From The Wall Street Journal, 11/19, page one (reprinted w/out permission)

       "Reality Sets In: Clinton Advisors Find Promises are 
                 Easier to Make Than Keep"
                         ----
    "They are Drawing Up Lists of Tax Increases and Cuts in
      Entitlement Programs / One Target: Big Corporations"
                      ----------

"WASHINGTON -- Bill Clinton's advisors are already realizing that campaign 
promises are easier to make than to keep.  During the campaign, Mr. Clinton 
promised not only to shield the middle class from tax increases but to cut 
their taxes.  He promised to halve the deficit in four years.  He said his 
rivals -- not he -- were the ones who would slash government benefits that go 
to the middle class.

"...But now, a sobering reality is sinking in... the president-elect's new 
economic transition team, headed by Harvard Prof. Robert Reich, is drafting 
lists of spending cuts and tax increases -- euphemistically described as 
'loophole closers' -- that go well beyond those in the economic plan set forth 
during the Clinton campaign.  One juicy target for new taxes: U.S. 
corporations.  A potential source of big spending cuts: the costly, 
fast-growing 'entitlement' programs, many of which shower benefits on the 
middle-class people Mr. Clinton promised to protect.

"...Simply put, Mr. Clinton has to decide -- much as President Bush did four 
years ago -- whether to break his campaign promises early on, when he has the 
most political capital, or later, when he might hope the public has forgotten 
them.

"...many budget experts in both parties -- and some of them under consideration 
for senior posts in the Clinton administration -- say it is almost impossible 
to exempt the middle class from pain and reduce the deficit substantially." 
[Quoted is Alice Rivlin, former head of CBO, said to be under consideration for 
a 'top economic post.']

"...Rep. Leon Panetta, a California Democrat and House Budget Committee
chairman, says, 'If you're putting together a significant deficit-reduction 
package, the middle class is going to carry part of that burden.  There's no 
way to avoid that."

"In another warning suggesting that he is thinking more seriously about the 
deficit, [Clinton] recently said that 'all have to sacrifice and contribute 
over the long run.'  When pressed about his promised tax cut for middle-class 
families [as published by the Clinton campaign; it's on paper], he didn't 
exactly offer any guarantees..."


So the issue before us is this:  Clinton's team has only NOW stumbled upon the
numbers that his opponents (and some media) were pointing to, all during the
campaign?  The same facts, figures, and statistics that his team is now using
as a basis to break their promises are not new; they were available to ANY
citizen at ANY time during the campaign, in any dime-store almanac -- and
obviously ignored by the Clinton team. 

In fact, the article includes a table -- again, available to any citizen who
cared to know the truth -- showing that families with incomes below $80,000
(the class Clinton promised to protect) accounted for 75% of the personal
income reported to the IRS in 1990.  How can Clinton et al pretend that these
numbers didn't exist during the campaign? 

One can only conclude that Clinton and his were completely ignorant of reality
-- and/or that they lied outright.  And before I get flamed, yes, of course,
Bush lied; bringing that up only beggars the question before us.  Using it as a
defense is worse, since it brings into question the stance of moral superiority
shown by certain Clinton supporters. 

(EMail to me on this thread will NOT be answered.  If anyone has anything to
say, have the courage of your convictions: say it HERE, or not at all.)

------

 Paul Havemann  |||  paul@hsh.com     
    ("Boss!  Boss!  Disclaim! Disclaim!" cried the little man.  "Very well, 
Tattoo," his mentor replied, "any opinions expressed are not necessarily those
of any company.")
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