Time - Man of the Year/Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso/moy/080392/0803990.000

Text File | 1993-04-08 | 4KB | 86 lines

                                                                                THE WEEK, Page 20

NATION

Bumpy Stretch for a Rattled President


As the Clinton-Gore team hits the road, Bush just hits detours


    The beleaguered Bush campaign seemed to be dodging an army of
ghosts. Was the President seriously ill? "Crazy time on
rumors," said Bush, 68. Would Dan Quayle be dumped from the
ticket? Absolutely not, the President insisted; Quayle's hold
on the job was "very certain." Would James Baker leave his post
as Secretary of State to rescue his old friend's campaign? Well
. . .

    With Bush and Quayle dropping precipitously in the polls
and their party in serious danger of losing four to six Senate
seats as well, many Republicans are praying that Baker, who
headed the Bush campaign in 1988, will return by next month to
lead a revival. G.O.P. discontent was surely deepened by images
of Bill Clinton and Al Gore bounding through eight states on a
1,240-mile bus tour marked by camera-friendly street rallies and
upbeat TV appearances. At each stop, a beaming Clinton showed
off his running mate like a new sports car. "Didn't I make a
good choice?" became a standard line.

    Though Bush and Quayle were both stumping too, their
efforts to portray the Clinton-Gore team as liberals in moderate
clothing were constantly deflected by questions about their own
prospects and record in office. In a week when Bush faced
hecklers at a gathering of POW and MIA families, quayle gritted
his teeth and denied that he was on the brink of being dropped
from the team. When he turned up on CNN'S Larry King Live to
repeat that line, however, he seemed to provide his own escape
clause. "Believe me, if I thought that I was hurting the ticket,
I'd be gone," he said -- even as new polls showed that half or
more of voters would approve if Bush dropped him. The Vice
President was further distracted from his intended message when,
asked what he would do if his daughter, now 13, grew up and had
an unwanted pregnancy, he suggested that he would advise her to
have the child but would support whatever decision she made --
including abortion. Pro-choice activists quickly said that
sounded pro-choice to them, obliging Quayle to backtrack.

    The new flap over Quayle also diverted attention from the
Administration's attempt to blame the Democrats for the deficit
and the sickly economy. Introducing the Administration's midyear
economic review, Budget Director Richard Darman blasted Congress
for failing to enact Bush's economic program, including his
proposals to reduce the capital-gains tax and give first-time
homebuyers a $5,000 tax credit.

    Nor did the White House economic forecast offer much
solace to candidate Bush. It predicted a meager 2.7% growth rate
for the year -- up from the January prediction of 2.2% but
still sluggish. Two days before the forecast was issued, Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, presenting the central bank's
semiannual report, predicted that the weak recovery would become
more stable sometime next year -- too late to help the
President's re-election bid.

    All the more reason to bring back James Baker, though even
that step is hardly free of risk. If Baker relinquishes his
post at State, the President will be vulnerable to charges that
he is willing to subordinate U.S. global interests to his own
political needs. He would thus risk ceding the high ground on
his one area of unchallenged strength, foreign policy.

    The postconvention love fest that surrounded Clinton and
Gore all week contributed to a startling surge in their
standing in the polls. A TIME/CNN poll gave the Democratic
ticket a 2-to-1 lead over Bush. Those numbers will inevitably
change as the season unfolds and new events intrude on the
campaign. But at the moment, there is every reason for the
President to consider alternative routes to his planned
destination.