Everybody’s so focused on the Republican platform that it comes as a bit of a surprise to learn that there will be a Democratic party platform as well. And we’ve gotten our hands on a document that spells out what the administration wants the platform to say. Stamped “DRAFT, NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION,” the White House document comes out of the speechwriting office. And it is pure Neo-Clinton — our spanking-new neo-con president.
The section on “Fighting crime” begins with the phrase “the first responsibility of government is law and order” and drones on in Dirty Harry- like fury for a full 15 paragraphs. The word police is used 19 times, while there are 22 references to criminals, felons, fugitives, stalkers, predators, and offenders. And forget Pat Buchanan: Clinton can pummel illegal immigrants with the best of them. In the three sections on ” Immigration,” the word illegal appears nine times, along with references to the administration’s crackdown on “criminal immigrants” and “criminal aliens.” Under “Welfare reform,” we quickly learn that Clinton has granted more waivers to states than Reagan and Bush did in 12 years. “Pass national welfare reform” demands another paragraph, overflowing with the word work.
Defense wimp? Get real. The Pentagon has never had it so good. The ” Strengthening our military” plank tells us that Clinton “has increased defense resources — a total of almost $ 50 billion” and plans a “40% real increase for weapons modernization by 2001.”
Twenty-seven years ago, a young Clinton wrote that he had “decided to accept the draft in spite of my beliefs for one reason: to maintain my political viability within the system.” Today, an older Bill Clinton has kept the tradition alive by saying whatever it takes to get reelected — even if it bears no relation to the policies he has adopted as president.
