Beyond that, it is unclear who is really leading the party. It was widely believed that once Bill Clinton left office, he would be the party's leader, raising money and trying to build up support for Democrats. However, with all of the controversies surrounding the former president now, he is not playing that role. So it remains to be seen just what role Bill Clinton plays down the road who the Democrats choose to have as their leader once all the negative attention of the former president subsides. An audience member says that he can't write checks if money is not in the bank, and that the same applies to the Bush Administration.
Democrats certainly say they are concerned.
I believe it was Senator Daschle who said after the president's speech Tuesday night that these are forecasts, and that they shouldn't be relied on just as you don't always rely on weather forecasts. But the Republicans say the projections are based on conservative economic growth estimates. Further, they say they don't take into account the impact the Bush team believes the president's tax cut would have on stimulating the economy. You have two schools of thought. We won't know the answer until we see what the surplus is in the years ahead.