Clinton Normandy visit no ordinary foreign trip. White House goal is to turn around negative image on foreign policy—53 per cent disapproval, worst since Somalia raid. Harsh Time, Newsweek, and ABC Nightline analyses have aides fearing permanent “incompetence” tag (like Jimmy Carter’s)…. Hoping for mother of all media events, aides are watching videos of Reagan’s triumphs on similar ’84 trip. At center of media massage is David Gergen, who was behind page-one Washington Post story downplaying Reagan trip and criticizing Gipper for not seeing combat in WWII. Gergen fears comparisons of Reagan’s moving Omaha Beach moment to current boss’s June 6 speech in Colleville…. Date of Clinton visit to Oxford switched until after D-Day events because of Prez’s draft-dodging and antiwar protests while student there. Some veterans still saying they’ll boycott ceremonies.
GOP scored media victory at opening of House and Senate health-care committee hearings as Republicans unloaded on Clinton and Kennedy proposal. “Nothing less than an American version of socialized medicine,” said Sen. Dan Coats (R., Ind.). Second day saw GOP collapse as senators won New York Times’ cheers for voting unanimously to set up national health-care board. Meaning: GOP leadership has bought into view of Clinton guru James Carville that public can’t make distinctions and will blame Republicans if no health bill emerges this year. Washington Times columnists now refer routinely to GOP as “The Stupid Party” over failure to portray Clinton plan as statist power grab by liberal elitists…. Republican susceptibility to creeping Carvillism comes as Democrats’ health-care problems abound. Disapproval for Clinton like plans has climbed to 53 per cent, and New York Times/ABC poll shows 75 per cent of business executives opposed despite big-business payoffs.
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