If Nothing Else, Clinton Puts On A Good Show

Nobody in America can put on a political show with as much panache as Bill Clinton. The leader of the Free World was at his best last Tuesday, when he signed into law a measure raising the minimum wage.

As a phalanx of cottony clouds escorted the sun across the sky, the president let the warm light wash over him. He looked like a young executive - dark suit, white shirt and snappy rep tie - and he strutted about with the ten-hut uprightness one expects from a commander in chief.

At the very moment Clinton was speaking, Bob Dole was bashing the president before a group of veterans in Louisville. The visual contrast was telling. While Dole stood on an indoor stage, wearing a slightly uncomfortable outfit, Clinton positioned himself behind the presidential seal and talked about Americans who, thanks to his ministrations, have been given a chance to work and feed themselves at the same time.

Then, as journalists swarmed in on the president, Clinton called forth a group of children, most of whom were black, to join him as he affixed his signature to the parchment. It was as if he were saying: “Suffer the little children to come unto me.”

Republicans belittle this kind of performance because it celebrates symbol over substance. But somber right-wing wonks forget that emotive rallies serve an important public purpose.

Americans don’t think anybody in Washington cares about them. So every time Clinton gazes into strangers’ eyes, he smashes the stereotype and serves up a precious dollop of hope. Republicans may have statistics and arguments on their side, but Clinton feeds people’s hunger for attention.

Most who crowded into the Rose Garden for the ceremony hadn’t been to the White House before and will never return. They milled around in a form of ecstasy - gleeful that for them, democracy seemed to work. They were just little people, but the big guy had reached out and given them just what they wanted - an extra 90 cents an hour.

Herein lies the magic of the Clinton presidency. The man has an almost saintly capacity for showing compassion. Although cynics sneer at his tear ducts’ capacity to produce at politically opportune moments, most folks don’t care. After all, the guy at least has the decency to cry.

His emotions account for one of the great anomalies in American politics. Voters don’t trust the president and don’t think he can lead. Yet he continues to outpace Bob Dole by nearly 10 points, despite the most successful Republican Convention in 44 years.

Clinton cares more about saying what people want to hear and doing what he thinks they want him to do than about such things as ideology. The White House sets aside more on public-opinion research than some small nations spend on national defense. And the finger-in-the-wind strategy seems to be working.

Unlike the three previous Democratic presidential candidates, Bill Clinton appreciates the perils of party orthodoxy. He blundered down the path of adventurous liberalism with the 1994 health-care proposal and earned the biggest whupping any president has suffered in a midterm election in 60 years.

Soon after, he kissed his old patrons goodbye. Forget about Great Society liberalism, the latest Bill Clinton wants uniforms in schools, prayer in public, cops on the streets and even some tax cuts - although not the variety favored by Dole and other Republicans.

Meanwhile, he has managed to quell otherwise fractious Democrats by subjecting them to a sustained siege of passive aggression. He opposes nobody and proposes nothing. Enemies in his party look as comical as Republicans when they try to whack him. Who can connect with fog?

Daniel Casse, a former adviser to President Bush and presidential hopeful Lamar Alexander, captures the essence of this president in the July issue of Commentary magazine. “Clinton is trying to decouple the presidency from the congressional train.”

Clinton’s ceremonial presidency will beget a ceremonial Democratic convention in Chicago. If there’s a story in the gala, it is this: The Democrats have become a party of one, governed by the motto, “All for one and one for one.”

This election has become Bill Clinton’s big show, his chance to build a great coalition out of evanescent promises and well-crafted photo opportunities. As he works the crowd in the Windy City, liberal devotees will watch with trepidation and delight. They know if Clinton wins in November, he could revive big labor and the Great Society. They also know that if he loses, they all will be toast.

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