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Subject: Setting Priorities And Tone; Clinton Signals Governing Style<By Dan
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 04:39:11 EST
Message-ID: <1.1992Nov13.043912@AmeriCast.com>

Setting Priorities And Tone; Clinton Signals Governing Style<By
Dan Balz=Washington Post Staff Writer=

After a week in near-seclusion, President-elect Clinton moved
briskly and publicly yesterday to take command of his transition,
sketching out the priorities of his administration and offering
the first clues to his governing style as president.

If there was any sense that he had moved tentatively to set the
transition in motion, the Arkansas governor sought to dispel it
with a news conference and a series of transition appointments
designed to show the country that he is in charge and that the
economy is his top priority.

Clinton described more succinctly than he has in the past the
elements likely to be part of the agenda for his first 100 days.
They include deficit reduction, a bow to the power of Ross
Perot's grass-roots support and the nervous financial markets; a
new national health care system that will provide universal cov-
erage and cost controls; political overhaul to reduce the power
of lobbyists and political action committees (PACs), designed to
assure angry voters that he will end business-as-usual in Wash-
ington.

Clinton also included on that list an idea that proved enormously
popular with campaign audiences all year long - a program to
offer loans to anyone who wants to go to college, to be repaid
either as a percentage of the student's later income or through
two years of national service.

If candidate Clinton offered voters hope and change, President-
elect Clinton yesterday counseled caution.

On the economy, he said the American people "expect aggressive
and prompt action and I'm going to give it to them." But he res-
tated his belief that the country's problems cannot be solved
overnight and refused to be drawn into hypothetical discussion
about how much he could do without legislative action.

He raised questions about his programs that were largely ignored
during his long campaign. For example, on the college-loan pro-
gram, he said his advisers would have to determine how much a
student could borrow each year and how much a family had to con-
tribute as part of the deal.

The structure of the transition team, particularly in the domes-
tic issues areas, showed Clinton's desire to surround himself
with advisers who represent competing wings of the Democratic
Party and are likely to disagree with one another in the formula-
tion of policy.

Many of them, such as communications director George Stephano-
poulos and political director David Wilhelm, served prominently
in his campaign. Others, such as Harvard professor and long-time
friend Robert Reich or Democratic Leadership Council (DLC)
president Al From, have been influential advisers to Clinton
since before he became a candidate.

The economic team will be headed by Reich and Gene Sperling, a
top issues aide during the campaign. Both played an influential
role in formulating the economic program issued last June that
scaled back Clinton's deficit-reduction goals and called for sig-
nificantly greater spending by the government on roads, bridges
and other infrastructure projects.

On the other hand, From will head the domestic issues group, as-
sisted by fellow-DLCer and campaign adviser Bruce Reed. They are
certain to promote the other part of Clinton's agenda, which in-
cludes such programs as welfare reform and other policies to
"reinvent government" and to oppose what the DLC often attacked
as the tax-and-spend policies of the Democratic Party.  If the
campaign is any guide, Clinton will resolve potential disputes
himself, and he restated that intention yesterday. Asked whether
the policies he espouses will be those of his advisers or his
own, he replied, "Mine. They will be mine."

By including health care as one of three domestic issue areas in
his transition, Clinton signaled his commitment to follow through
on perhaps the most complicated problem he will confront as
president.

In the foreign policy area, he once again tapped two people who
worked closely with him through the campaign, Washington lawyer
Sandy Berger and Nancy Soderberg, a former aide to Sen. Edward M.
Kennedy (D-Mass.). But also on that list is Leon Fuerth, Vice
President-elect Gore's top foreign policy adviser, a sign of
Clinton's commitment to making Gore a significant partner in his
presidency.  Noting that former President Jimmy Carter may have
tried to do too much at once when he came to Washington, Clinton
said he was impressed with former President Ronald Reagan's deci-
sion to use omnibus legislation in moving his agenda through
Congress. "I think the fewer votes you have, the better off you
are," Clinton said.

Stylistically, Clinton was decisive when it served his interest -
promising to reverse Bush administration policies on abortion
counseling and Haitian refugees - and vague when he wanted to
avoid being pinned down on policies.

He said he would try to remain accessible to ordinary Americans,
despite the security risks, and attempted to show the voters that
he got the message that they want to clean up the government. He
pledged strict rules of ethics and used the controversy over the
State Department's investigation of his passport files to assert
that he will not tolerate misbehavior:

"I just want you to know that the State Department of this coun-
try is not going to be fooling with Bill Clinton's politics and
if I catch anybody doing it, I will fire them the next
day."<02:03 11-13C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

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poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)