Bill Clinton's genius in the 1992 campaign was understanding the abiding power of the idea of activist government - activism directed not, however, at the fringes of society but at the great middle that keeps it going. Forgotten, one might note, by modern liberalism. Hence his national-service program, an echo of the G.I. Bill, aimed at working kids, who would repay their schooling with community service. There is something valiant if archaic about Clinton's trying to resurrect activist government. Delivering the goods is far more difficult today.
Government is broke.
And the issue is not a bathhouse that can be built for a few hundred thousand dollars but a health-care entitlement that could cost trillions. It is easy to admire the energy and drive behind Clinton's activism. Those skeptical of government's doing social engineering rather than bathhouse construction register a mixture of wonder and alarm at a President so fixed in a belief that runs against the tide of public opinion and the fiscal capacities of modern government. But to succeed, Clinton must stick to his vision. The principal reason his ambitions for health care and crime met such resistance is that what started out as grand schemes to allay middle-class anxieties were increasingly seen as yet more remedial programs for the poor.