To rebound, Clinton will have to try something completely new as president: discipline. He’s never lacked for messages. His problem has been sticking with one long enough to drive it home. This time, he’s returning to his 1992 campaign theme, a “New Covenant” of middle-class economic opportunity and personal responsibility His most important audience for the State of the Union and beyond will be the group of voters who put him in the White House and then rejected him two years later: Americans earning between $30,000 and $75,000 a year (page 42). He won them in 1992 by establishing himself as the preeminent advocate for middle-class concerns about job security, education, taxes and political reform. Last November, feeling angry and betrayed, they opted for Republican congressional candidates by a 54-46 margin. “That’s obviously the battleground,” says Democratic polltaker Geoff Garin, part of a new, wider circle of consultants advising the White House.
To romance the middle class, the administration is trying to overhaul an erratic and ineffectual conununications machine. On Thursday afternoons, deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes and senior adviser George Stephanopoulos meet with a kitchen cabinet of old-guard message men convened by Panetta. The group, which includes former Carter press secretary Jody Powell and former Tip O’Neill aide Kirk O’Donnell, set Sunday-talk-show strategy. New Press Sec retary Mike McCurry spends part of his Fridays on the phone schmoozing with talking heads like Tim Russert of “Meet the Press.” He’s also running the daily 10 a.m White House conference call with spokespeople from all cabinet agencies, a job formerly handeled by a lower-level aide.
Agency testimony on Capitol Hill will be vetted for political content by Stephanopoulos and congressional liaison Pat Griffin. Departments have also been asked to plan for promoting Clinton’s message of middle-class economic opportunity. Clinton even urged top appointees to start spending more time on talk radio.
The administration will also try to exploit tactical opportunities created by what it regards as Gingrich missteps. Last week, when he attacked the national service program, Clinton’s signature idea, the White House pounced. Clinton retooled a speech in Colorado to defend the initiative. Back at the White House, AmeriCorps director Eli Segal trotted out earnest young volunteers and invited Gingrich to visit any of the communities where the program is under way. Eager to build on whatever political bounce it gets from the State of the Union, the White House plans a series of presidential visits to suburban communities filled with the middleclass swing voters Clinton will need to win back in 1996. The objective will be twofold: cast Republicans as indiscriminate budget slashers and show that the so-called New Democrat vision of smaller, selectively activist govemment – job-training vouchers, community-policing programs, national service, tax deductions for tuition – can help the middle class.
But before he can sell his program, Clinton must find a way to sell himself. A Wall Street Journal poll last week showed his approval rating at a sour 45 percent, even though a, majority of Americans believe he is doing well with the economy and foreign policy. Despite the attempts to portray a purposeful, decisive president, other images – like the steady stream of personal-growth gurus and big thinkers to Camp David – still convey the picture of a well-meaning but rudderless chief executive. Clinton must begin to sharpen the focus this week – and hope that the country is still watching.
