For the Record

■ Are Dems getting closer to abandoning Bill Clinton? After “chaotic week of policy zig-zags” (Washington Post) on Bosnia, Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) had harsh words for “muddle-through hope and wish policy” that is “putting American pilots at risk.” . . . Mild stuff compared to outrage Democrats expressed at Clinton’s sudden decision to imitate GOP and put forward balanced-budget plan. “I think most of us learned some time ago that if you don’t like the President’s position on a particular issue you simply need to wait a few weeks,” said angry David Obey (D., Wise.). “Maybe we need to re-open Pennsylvania Avenue,” was the naughty crack (later retracted) of a fuming Rep. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio). Minority leaders Rep. Richard Gephardt (D., Mo.) and Sen. Thomas Daschle (D., S.D.)—along with White House aide George Stephanopoulos—had begged Clinton to delay his plan and stick to Trumanesque strategy of bashing GOP Congress for balancing budget on backs of poor while favoring rich with tax cuts. Prez defended himself with astonishing comment: “I don’t believe it’s right for the Democrats to kind of overreact to the last election.” Reason GOP aides heard chortling at D.C. bar: Clinton has alienated his own party’s dominant wing of bitter-enders and abandoned their attack-attack strategy, but only after following it long enough to convince public he was not serious about deficits and GOP was. . . . Clinton’s problems added to by economic slowdown and comments by economists like Morgan Stanley’s David J. Greenlaw in New York Tinies. Greenlaw blames fall-off in consumer spending on impact of Clinton 1993 tax increase—Americans had to pay $20 billion (30 per cent) more this year than last. . . . With Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R., N.Y.) and Rep. James Leach (R., Iowa) revving up congressional hearings on Whitewater, and with rumors of more indictments on way from Special Counsel Kenneth Starr, the question pundits may soon be asking themselves (though, unlike OCD, they haven’t yet): Can Clinton survive summer without Democratic Party revolt?

■ GOP’s Capitol Hill revolution continues apace, with items providing potentially bigger payoffs than even Contract with America. “The fastest-approved constitutional amendment in the history of this country,” Rep. Gerald B. H. Solomon (R., N.Y.) predicts about anti-flag-desecration measure when GOP Congress sends it to states for approval. American Legion National Commander William M. Detweiler has blasted Clinton for flip-flop —he’s now against the amendment— but congressional Democrats have the real problem. As elitist liberals who once quietly killed flag and prayer amendments in committee, they risk political extinction by openly opposing measures favored by 80 per cent of voters. . . . Meanwhile, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R., Tex.)—seeking title of History’s Greatest Exorcist—is picking up unexpected support for his plan to abolish the IRS. Rep. Sam Gibbons (D., Fla.) and other ranking Democrats on Ways and Means Committee are supporting his plan—proving that whatever their suicidal impulses on flag and prayer, Democrats aren’t nuts enough to defend the income tax. . . . Possibility that House GOP members will keep their tax cuts in budget bill during House—Senate conference also had Democrats and liberal journalists worried. Newsweek’s Washington bureau chief Evan Thomas says current sexual-harassment charges against Sen. Bob Packwood (R., Ore.) are a shame because he would otherwise be “an important force” in stopping “this stupid tax cut.” Leading efforts of Senate Old Bulls against cuts is the ever-overwrought Pete Domenici (R., N.M.), who tried in Eighties to kill off Reagan economic boom with tax increases and pushed 1990 budget deal that scrapped George Bush’s “No-new-taxes” pledge.

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■ Are Dems getting closer to abandoning Bill Clinton? After “chaotic week of policy zig-zags” (Washington Post) on Bosnia, Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) had harsh words for “muddle-through hope and wish policy” that is “putting American pilots at risk.” . . . Mild stuff compared to outrage Democrats expressed at Clinton’s sudden decision to imitate GOP and put forward balanced-budget plan. “I think most of us learned some time ago that if you don’t like the President’s position on a particular issue you simply need to wait a few weeks,” said angry David Obey (D., Wise.). “Maybe we need to re-open Pennsylvania Avenue,” was the naughty crack (later retracted) of a fuming Rep. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio). Minority leaders Rep. Richard Gephardt (D., Mo.) and Sen. Thomas Daschle (D., S.D.)—along with White House aide George Stephanopoulos—had begged Clinton to delay his plan and stick to Trumanesque strategy of bashing GOP Congress for balancing budget on backs of poor while favoring rich with tax cuts. Prez defended himself with astonishing comment: “I don’t believe it’s right for the Democrats to kind of overreact to the last election.” Reason GOP aides heard chortling at D.C. bar: Clinton has alienated his own party’s dominant wing of bitter-enders and abandoned their attack-attack strategy, but only after following it long enough to convince public he was not serious about deficits and GOP was. . . . Clinton’s problems added to by economic slowdown and comments by economists like Morgan Stanley’s David J. Greenlaw in New York Tinies. Greenlaw blames fall-off in consumer spending on impact of Clinton 1993 tax increase—Americans had to pay $20 billion (30 per cent) more this year than last. . . . With Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R., N.Y.) and Rep. James Leach (R., Iowa) revving up congressional hearings on Whitewater, and with rumors of more indictments on way from Special Counsel Kenneth Starr, the question pundits may soon be asking themselves (though, unlike OCD, they haven’t yet): Can Clinton survive summer without Democratic Party revolt?

■ GOP’s Capitol Hill revolution continues apace, with items providing potentially bigger payoffs than even Contract with America. “The fastest-approved constitutional amendment in the history of this country,” Rep. Gerald B. H. Solomon (R., N.Y.) predicts about anti-flag-desecration measure when GOP Congress sends it to states for approval. American Legion National Commander William M. Detweiler has blasted Clinton for flip-flop —he’s now against the amendment— but congressional Democrats have the real problem. As elitist liberals who once quietly killed flag and prayer amendments in committee, they risk political extinction by openly opposing measures favored by 80 per cent of voters. . . . Meanwhile, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R., Tex.)—seeking title of History’s Greatest Exorcist—is picking up unexpected support for his plan to abolish the IRS. Rep. Sam Gibbons (D., Fla.) and other ranking Democrats on Ways and Means Committee are supporting his plan—proving that whatever their suicidal impulses on flag and prayer, Democrats aren’t nuts enough to defend the income tax. . . . Possibility that House GOP members will keep their tax cuts in budget bill during House—Senate conference also had Democrats and liberal journalists worried. Newsweek’s Washington bureau chief Evan Thomas says current sexual-harassment charges against Sen. Bob Packwood (R., Ore.) are a shame because he would otherwise be “an important force” in stopping “this stupid tax cut.” Leading efforts of Senate Old Bulls against cuts is the ever-overwrought Pete Domenici (R., N.M.), who tried in Eighties to kill off Reagan economic boom with tax increases and pushed 1990 budget deal that scrapped George Bush’s “No-new-taxes” pledge.