The long run agenda, though nominally bi-partisan, is resolutely Republican. And while this week it is Republicans who are opening feuding with each other, the breach between President Clinton and his fellow Democrats is deeper and ultimately more damaging. The rivalry between Vice President Gore and House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt is not just personal positioning for the nomination in 2000, but a deep division of principle, ideology and strategy. This was a President who did not come to the aid of his party in the 1996 election. Most of the money he raised went to his own re-election, and the party machinery did precious little to recapture the House or Senate for the Democrats.
Republicans seem to have a lock on both.
Clinton deserves credit for getting control of the fiscal deficit. But he is adding to the deficit of public confidence in government. His party will bear that debt long after Clinton leaves office. Readers may redistribute this article to other individuals for noncommercial use, provided that the text and this notice remain intact. This article may not be resold, reprinted, or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior written permission from the author.