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- <text id=92TT2596>
- <title>
- Nov. 23, 1992: Who's in a Hurry? Not Bill Clinton...
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1992
- Nov. 23, 1992 God and Women
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- THE WEEK, Page 16
- NATION
- Who's in a Hurry? Not Bill Clinton . . . Yet
- </hdr><body>
- <p>The President-elect drops some hints on policy but takes time
- with names
- </p>
- <p> He showed a confident familiarity with the nuances of policy,
- spoke (in a refreshing change from recent presidential
- practice) in complete grammatical sentences, and by his own
- testimony is "having a wonderful time" preparing to take over
- the government. One thing Bill Clinton is not, though, is in a
- hurry. At his first press conference as President-elect, Clinton
- made clear that he will take his time staffing his
- Administration and setting policy. Aides released four dozen
- names of people appointed to the transition. But Clinton said
- he would "spend a lot more time" pondering Cabinet appointments,
- and not make any until he had decided possible changes in
- "mission" for the departments.
- </p>
- <p> The President-elect, in fact, seemed eager to guard his
- Administration in advance against any charge that it represents
- special interests. Some skeptics had already questioned Vernon
- Jordan's position as chairman of the transition, noting that
- Jordan is a director of cigarette-making RJR Nabisco, and
- wondering if he would help pick public health officials. Clinton
- answered firmly that he, not Jordan, would make those
- selections. On Friday the Clinton team announced unprecedentedly
- tough ethical standards for people working on the transition,
- and the President-elect is expected to follow this week with
- stricter rules yet for prospective Administration officials:
- they probably will be barred from lobbying their old departments
- for five years after leaving government service, perhaps from
- ever becoming lobbyists for foreign governments. That might keep
- out of the Administration some prominent Democrats who would
- want to return more speedily to what have become their primary,
- and lucrative, careers as lawyer-lobbyists.
- </p>
- <p> On policy, the President-elect pledged to steer a middle
- course between all-out deficit reduction and gangbusters
- stimulation of the economy. His goal is "to bring this deficit
- down . . . gradually and within a framework which permits us to
- substantially increase investment" (good luck). On legislative
- strategy, Clinton said he would emulate, of all people, Ronald
- Reagan and pack "a whole lot of changes into omnibus bills . .
- . the fewer votes [in Congress] you have, the better off you
- are." The President-elect summoned congressional leaders to a
- Sunday huddle in Little Rock, and was then to leave the Arkansas
- capital for a quick trip to Washington, where he will confer
- with President Bush and members of Congress. The transition this
- week, said Clinton, will accelerate to "a fairly breathless
- pace."
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
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