Getting Out the Wrecking Ball

In her 15 months as Surgeon General, Dr. Joycelyn Elders urged the government to study legalizing drugs, backed the distribution of contraceptives in schools and counseled abortion foes to get over their “love affair” with the fetus. Bill Clinton stood by her throughout, suggesting that his old Arkansas friend was misunderstood.

Not anymore. The Clinton White House, in a virtual trauma for days, is now desperately trying to regain its footing after the disastrous midterm elections. So when the President learned last Friday morning that Elders had recently called on schools to consider teaching students about masturbation, he lost no time in firing her. “There have been too many areas in which the President does not agree with her views,” said White House chief of staff Leon Panetta. “This is just one too many.”

Clinton’s reincarnation as a centrist is fully under way. The election- induced rush to the middle began three weeks ago, when Clinton announced he would contemplate a law allowing for a moment of silence in schools. The next week he boosted Pentagon spending by $25 billion. Last week top EPA officials met with Governors to ease automobile-emissions testing requirements. And the Agriculture Department, a virtual Harvestore of unnecessary spending, announced that it would close 1,274 field offices around the U.S. Though Clinton complained privately last week that he had already made dramatic cuts in government, some top aides pushed him to cut more. “People don’t feel it,” a member of the Cabinet explained last week. “It’s just not big enough.”

That stature gap helps explain why both parties are playing a new Washington game called “Whose Wrecking Ball Is Bigger?” After Republican Newt Gingrich announced his plan to sell one of five House office buildings, jealous Clinton aides one-upped the Republican leader with a plan to padlock an entire federal agency. Hearing of this, Republican leaders late last Friday began work on a new budget plan to close four agencies: HUD, Energy, Education and Commerce. The bidding war exasperated one official. “Now we’re in a situation,” he said, “where if we don’t abolish three agencies, we look weak.”

The scramble to do something dramatic, and do it quickly, led Clinton to try to bring a Republican into the Cabinet. A senior official approached former New Hampshire Senator Warren Rudman two weeks ago about replacing Lloyd Bentsen as Treasury Secretary. Rudman declined the tentative offer, however, and Clinton turned to Robert Rubin, the director of the National Economic Council, who had been Bentsen’s presumptive heir for months. Rubin isn’t expected to change course at Treasury, but his ability to broker compromises on bitter policy fights will be missed at the White House.

Indeed, an edgy mood permeates the West Wing. Senior officials renowned for optimism on the bleakest of days are spiteful in private and pessimistic in public. Party leaders wonder whether Clinton can or should seek a second term — or whether to turn to Al Gore instead. Agency executives and Democrats on – Capitol Hill complain that decision making has nearly halted while Clinton remains huddled with top aides. “We’re in uncharted waters,” said a White House official, “and nobody has their bearings.”

Much of the discontent is aimed at Clinton. The President has been unable to decide on how to replace Rubin at the NEC or Mike Espy at Agriculture. The race to take over the Democratic National Committee has cooled since the party discovered a $5 million debt. Nor has Clinton been able to persuade anyone to take charge of his re-election effort. One reason: few believe Clinton can prevent his wife, his top White House aides or his outside consultants from taking over.

Rather than wait until the State of the Union address to launch his legislative counterattack, Clinton planned a speech for this week. He did so partly because he didn’t want to give the Republicans “a free ride for the next 60 days,” said an Administration official. But Clinton also feared that the nation was beginning to tune him out. Last Friday, after delivering a forceful defense of free trade at the Americas Summit in Miami, Clinton met privately with 30 lawmakers from both parties. Wisconsin Republican Toby Roth, a fierce conservative, stood up and suggested the election might have gone Clinton’s way had he struck such a probusiness tone in October. “Thank you for saying those things now,” said Roth, “and not before the election.” Clinton laughed and replied, “I don’t think anyone would have listened before the election anyway.” Maybe not, but as he starts over yet again, Clinton is hoping Americans will listen now.