Should President Clinton be forced to lead? This isn’t a question for political scientists but for congressional Republicans. They must decide whether to give the president political cover to back a real balanced budget, spending cuts, a revised consumer price index, a capital-gains-tax cut, even sweeping tax reform. Or whether to make him step forward publicly with serious proposals on all these. GOP leaders are painfully divided.
Take the consumer price index. This is a hot potato because Social Security payments go up with inflation as measured by the CPI. Senate majority leader Trent Lott advocates a commission to revise the inflation index downward. Clinton’s budget director, Franklin Raines, told the Washington Post he’s in favor. Does this warrant the creation of a commission by Congress, Clinton having said nothing on the subject? Lott seems to think so. House majority leader Dick Armey and chairman Bill Archer of the House Ways and Means Committee, don’t. Armey and Archer figure Clinton later would claim Republicans made him adjust the CPI, and Democrats would again trash the GOP for, you guessed it, cutting Social Security.
Or consider the budget. The budget Clinton dispatched to Congress is a liberal’s delight: increases in social spending, tax cuts that automatically expire, no restructuring of Medicare. And it isn’t even balanced. Lott had said the Clinton budget would be the operative document in talks. But should it be? Archer and House budget chairman John Kasich insist Republicans should demand a new budget from Clinton, who isn’t ready to comply. So the question is whether Republicans go ahead with their own budget or wait for Clinton.
There’s a serious political issue here. Clinton would love to let Republicans lead, as they did in 1995 and 1996. Then, he’s off the hook and free to pander to his party’s liberal wing, while making some compromises with Republicans. Democrats can again pillory Republicans for cutting spending, tampering with Medicare, etc. But if Clinton leads, the situation changes. He’d have to propose spending cuts, a dip in the CPI, Medicare changes, and so on. Republicans could just go along, and they wouldn’t be scapegoats this time.
