Jan. 30, 2000

State of the Union Address Bill Clinton’s Last Hurrah

President Clinton’s last hurrah Thursday night was a political classic but not a “state of the union” report as advertised.

He took credit for every popular social program in sight and proposed 57 new ones by my count – more by other tabulations. Old or new, they required more spending.

Clinton inadvertently revealed the real intent of his objective when he declared, “Vice-president Gore wants to make our communities more liberal.” There was a moment of shocked silence. He is not famous for candor.

The audience quickly recognized the statement was a slip of the tongue (Freudian?) and laughed. The president’s face flushed as he explained he meant “livable.” Three sentences later he repeated the mistake, and there was more merriment.

After an hour and a half of lip-biting rhetoric, Clinton took pity on the Democrats and quit for the night. They were near exhaustion from jumping up to clap for his every proposal. In contrast, Republicans were well rested.

George Washington gave the first state of the union report – a short letter to Congress. The practice withered until President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his report in person with 850 well-chosen words. It has been up hill ever since.

Clinton spoke under false billing. The first quarter of his speech did recite the state of the union. The economy is good, thanks to Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan. The budget is producing a surplus of revenue, thanks to Newt Gingrich who pushed a balanced budget law through Congress.

Beyond those bright spots, three quarters of Clinton’s speech dwelled on a laundry list of good things to wish for. A warm glow is an adequate legacy for a president who talks like a duck – lame that is.

His performance also was a campaign speech for Vice- president Al Gore and First Lady Hillary Clinton. They thanked the president prettily for his invitation to stand up and take a bow.

The president is for using proposed surpluses to pay down the debt, save Social Security, reform Medicare and improve education. Of course, Republicans are for the same thing, having proposed them originally. Nevertheless, the bully pulpit trumps all other claims.

The difficulty with Clinton’s wonderful wish list is that you can’t get there from here.

Thirty-seven percent of Americans’ earnings go for federal, state and local taxes. Historically, nations collapse when about 45 percent of private income goes to support non-producers like bureaucrats, armies and welfare. We are approaching the point of no return.

Sweden – the epitome of socialism – teetered on the brink with a 42 percent tax take and is frantically back-pedaling. Britain, Canada and France – once near economic collapse -- are struggling to get back to 33 percent.

Washington, D.C., solons are mesmerized by the possibility of large revenue surpluses. Greenspan, Clinton’s favorite Republican, cautioned the Senate Banking Committee the day before: “My first priority would be to allow much of the surplus to flow through into a reduction in debt to the public.”

He emphasized that there is a “wide range of uncertainty” about Congressional Budget Office surplus estimates. “There is a portion of the surpluses that we will not know the permanence of for several years. If they turn out to be larger than expected, then spending can go up or taxes cut.”

All members of Congress agree that some portion of estimated surpluses should be used to shrink the national debt, some to save Social Security, some to improve education and some returned to tax payers as a tax cut. The quibble is how to divide the baby.

Greenspan wisely observed: “Surpluses are not gone if you use them to reduce debt, because you can always increase debt again.”

Let us hope that the next president will not be a showboat, and the next Congress will forgo the juvenile ploy of jumping up and down to impress media types who count ovations as an indication of a president’s acumen.

Some serious governance would be welcome.

PARTING SHOTS

Sen. Jesse Helms, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, told U.N. Security Council ambassadors last week he would not recommend payment of back dues until they showed appreciation for the billions of American dollars spent fighting U.N. wars. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright criticized Helms for committing truth.

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Clinton says he is disappointed that he has not accomplished all he wants. No wonder. He once explained: “Everybody sets out to do something and everybody does something, but no one does what he sets out to do.”

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It’s easier to be a liberal if you are the president, or a long way from home.

Lindsey Williams is a Sun-Herald columnist and can be reached at linwms@lindseywilliams.org