Every day, 20,000 letters pour into Bill Clinton's White House -- three times the mail that arrived during George Bush's term. Most come from ordinary Americans who want to tell the president what they think and how they feel. "He really connects with people," says a senior White House official. "They think of him as Everyman." That can be a problem. Americans like the common touch, but they also want their president to stand above the crowd, larger than life. And Clinton, because he has worked so hard to seem like a regular guy, has yet to measure up. In the next 100 days, he will get his chance. By mid-August, as a result of international developments, congressional deadlines and his own procrastination, he must make an extraordinary number of far-reaching decisions that should provide the clearest definition yet of his capabilities as a leader.
Perhaps his most profound choice will be balancing morality with realpolitik in both domestic and foreign affairs. He faces a June 3 deadline on whether to renew favorable trade status with a China that has an appalling human-rights record. New confrontations loom with North Korea over allowing international inspections of its nuclear-weapons sites. And if sanctions fail to topple Haiti's military regime, he will have to decide whether to order a U.S. invasion to reinstate deposed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The White House also fears that by July, the president may have to send troops to fight famine in the perilous environs of Somalia and Ethiopia.
At home, he will show whether he has a vision for changing America or is just a legislative technician. Congress has begun serious work on health care reform, and the president must decide how much he will compromise his principles and where he will confront the forces of the status quo. The same holds true for welfare reform, with a self-imposed June 21 deadline for introduction of his long- awaited welfare package. Nor can he avoid addressing two potential scandals that raise important questions about his character. A judge will soon rule on whether to go forward with Paula Jones's sexual harassment lawsuit. And, within a few weeks, special counsel Robert Fiske will release a report on the first phase of his investigation into the Whitewater affair.
Clinton will not lack for opportunities to enhance his stature. When he arrives in Europe next week for D-Day's 50th anniversary, he will tell how the soldiers of World War II embodied the same values he proclaims as central tenets of his presidency: a sense of responsibility and a community of purpose. The White House will emphasize that uplifting message over the three most critical months of the Clinton era. "The presidency," said Lyndon Johnson, "has made every man who occupied it, no matter how small, bigger than he was, and no matter how big, not big enough for its demands." In the next 100 days, the country will learn how fit America's Everyman is for the job.
