Mr. Clinton’s Trojan Hearse

PRESIDENT CLINTON’S health-care reform program has been discussed in Congress and the media as if it were a program to reform health care. That is not wholly unreasonable. It will, indeed, change the American health-care system. But as Roscoe Conkling remarked: “When Doctor Johnson described patriotism as the last refuge of a scoundrel, he was unaware of the then unexploited possibilities of the word ‘reform.’ ” And, true to scoundrelly form, Mr. Clinton’s program is less a health reform than a political strategy: a strategy outlined with beguiling frankness by the President’s pollster, Stanley Greenberg, in articles published in The American Prospect in 1990 and 1991.

Mr. Greenberg sought to dispel the pessimism then current about the future of the Democratic Party. It was seen as virtually unelectable, having lost traditional supporters to the Republicans over taxation, affirmative action, welfare spending, and traditional values. Supposedly, it could not abandon its positions without alienating its shrunken but vital base; and it could not win back the lost tribe of Reagan Democrats if it held onto them. To disprove this, Mr. Greenberg outlined a political strategy for a Democratic victory which I break down into the following five steps:

About the Author

John O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan is a senior fellow at National Review Institute and a contributing editor of National Review.

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PRESIDENT CLINTON’S health-care reform program has been discussed in Congress and the media as if it were a program to reform health care. That is not wholly unreasonable. It will, indeed, change the American health-care system. But as Roscoe Conkling remarked: “When Doctor Johnson described patriotism as the last refuge of a scoundrel, he was unaware of the then unexploited possibilities of the word ‘reform.’ ” And, true to scoundrelly form, Mr. Clinton’s program is less a health reform than a political strategy: a strategy outlined with beguiling frankness by the President’s pollster, Stanley Greenberg, in articles published in The American Prospect in 1990 and 1991.

Mr. Greenberg sought to dispel the pessimism then current about the future of the Democratic Party. It was seen as virtually unelectable, having lost traditional supporters to the Republicans over taxation, affirmative action, welfare spending, and traditional values. Supposedly, it could not abandon its positions without alienating its shrunken but vital base; and it could not win back the lost tribe of Reagan Democrats if it held onto them. To disprove this, Mr. Greenberg outlined a political strategy for a Democratic victory which I break down into the following five steps: