The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House by Woodward Bob

Author:Woodward, Bob [Woodward, Bob]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2007-04-19T00:00:00+00:00

SENATOR BILL BRADLEY had sat through the meeting and not said much other than to voice support. He had heard that Boren had been trying to secure a personal meeting with Clinton just before the Finance Committee session so he could walk in with the president. At least Clinton had been astute enough to avoid that. Bradley was going to vote for Clinton’s plan even though he was disappointed with it. The plan was a nest of contradictions: deficit reduction but more spending for investments; cutting some spending but increasing spending elsewhere for political reasons; raising tax rates but not closing tax loopholes. The biggest disappointment, though, was that it brought deficit reduction but not change. Clinton was not changing the way business was done. It should have been bolder, a plan designed to transform the debate from business as usual to a higher plane, some larger purpose. Clinton should have tried to force a change in the way people thought about public spending, reduce the transfers from one person to another in the entitlement programs, shed some of the baggage. Clinton should have forced a choice, made it the vote of a legislator’s lifetime. But this didn’t come close.

Mitchell told Clinton that no matter what he did, he would be criticized. If the president took an inflexible position and refused to negotiate, as President Carter had on several occasions, he would be attacked for not knowing the ways of Capitol Hill or having the experience to win. If on the other hand, Mitchell said, Clinton participated and made the necessary compromises to get the plan approved, he would be attacked for being too willing to give. “You cannot escape criticism in this process,” the majority leader said. Mitchell remembered that in response, Clinton didn’t say anything.

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