Heeding The Voice of Silent Cal
The chief business of the American people is business, Calvin Coolidge famously said seven decades ago. If Silent Cal were around today, he might conclude that Bill Clinton's chief business as president has been the politics of business.</br></br>From imposing trade sanctions on China to helping Mexico out of its financial jam, from fighting the budget deficit in his early presidential days of economic recovery to presenting his new, mildly reflationary budget, the president has steered a steady course of placating American business interests and seeking the financial markets' authenticating approval.</br></br>No surprise there. Clinton's concern with holding the strong support he got from the business community in 1992 and steadying the markets has long been evident. But David Alan Munro writes from Laguna Beach, Calif., to put the administration's quest for approval from Wall Street in a broader, more speculative perspective.</br></br>"There will always be a main non-governmental entity -- for example, the Church prior to the Reformation -- from which government seeks approval or legitimacy," writes Munro, a retired history professor. "That entity has been finance-capital for a long, long time."</br></br>Today Munro believes that the "authenticating mechanism" for government and politicians is shifting from financial markets to the media, which Clinton alternately courts and assails. Caught on the cusp of this transformation and not sure which way to turn, the Clintonites "are in for a rough ride" in 1996, the professor notes with sympathy.