Stampede for Statism
At the end of the worst first month of a modern presidency, there lingers, in fading echo, the word "covenant." That word, which candidate Clinton used to describe the relationship he wanted between government and citizenry, means, in a democracy, a solemn promise to keep promises.</br></br>The fraying of Clinton's covenant with the electorate is pertinent to this question: Which president does Clinton resemble? Not Kennedy, whose tax cut ignited a boom. Rather, Clinton resembles the two presidents of his politically formative years, Johnson and Nixon.</br></br>Clinton's conduct since the campaign marks his campaign as the most disingenuous since at least 1964, when Johnson disguised his intentions regarding Vietnam. Also, Clinton's plans for expanding government's graspingness and bossiness resemble Johnson's.</br></br>And Nixon's, whose administration oversaw explosive growth of the regulatory state. Nixon's wage and price controls (Clinton is contemplating control-by-edict of prices in the health care field) were the most radical extension of federal power into economic life since the 1930s.</br></br>One economic promise about which Clinton remains punctilious is one he should abandon - his promise to stimulate the economy, which is surging. What is breathtaking about Clinton's pork-laden stimulus package - fine-tuning tax credits, grants for state and local governments, Amtrak, road repairs - is its banality. For this you do not need to go to Oxford, you just need to have gone to sleep 20 years ago.