Posted on 04/17/2002 8:27:34 PM PDT by Liberals-R-Puke
New York Senator Hillary Clinton had a reunion of sorts last week with old White House officials and aides. Or was it a harbinger of things to come?
That's the question raised by Chicago Sun-Times gossip maven Michael Sneed, who reports that Clinton "held a get-together of former White House staff at her posh home in Washington, D.C., last Wednesday ... causing wags to wonder if this was a prelude to national office."
Attendees included former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta and Al From, president of the Democratic Leadership Council.
Also on hand, the prospective first husband himself, Bill Clinton - who reportedly answered the door.
"The list of Clinton's Who's Who were left feeling the event was more than a retrospective on past campaigns," Sneed said, adding, "It's called a prelude to a presidential bid."
Rosie O'Corpulent's lesbo buddy is going to run! And watch for Janet (Lets kill the children) Reno to jump on board soon!
ERSKINE BOWLES: CORPORATE AMERICA'S FRIEND IN THE WHITE HOUSE,
Analysis by Richard S. Dunham
Five years into his Presidency, Bill Clinton still gets no respect from the business community. Despite a booming economy, Corporate America doesn't give the President much credit for either helping to reduce the deficit or spur growth.
Business can't complain about Clinton's latest accomplishment, however: The President persuaded Chief of Staff Erskine B. Bowles to stay on the job rather than return to the private sector. Bowles, a venture capitalist from the entrepreneurial wing of the Democratic Party, has been a stabilizing influence on the White House and a moderating influence on White House policy initiatives.
As a manager, the conservative Democrat has run a tight ship in the West Wing, bringing discipline to the Presidential staff. He has cut down on internal backbiting and unauthorized leaks -- a need corporate execs can identify with.
Business should be most appreciative, though, of Bowles' role in the policymaking arena. His top 1997 achievement: A bipartisan balanced-budget agreement. It wasn't easy -- and it wasn't pretty -- but time and again, Bowles refused to allow the process to collapse. In the end, Clinton and the Republican leaders all could share the credit.
While there was sniping from unhappy ultraliberals and right-wingers (and some disappointment from business lobbyists who had hoped for a huge tax-cut bonanza), the deal gave something to everyone. Without denigrating the important roles played by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, Budget Director Franklin D. Raines, and others, Bowles was the indispensible player in the negotiations. He had the absolute confidence of the President and the trust of Capitol Hill Republicans.
No wonder Clinton wanted Bowles to stay. And despite the North Carolina businessman's oft-stated desire to return home, Clinton twisted his arm until he finally said yes. But before he did, Bowles made sure that his own personal priorities were shared by the President.
Atop the list: Maintaining fiscal discipline. While Clinton is sure to throw many a rhetorical sop to the Democratic left in his Jan. 27 State of the Union address, Bowles will make sure that the promises don't break the bank. Indeed, Bowles wants to see the budget balanced this year, four years ahead of the schedule agreed to in 1997. He'll have Republicans on his side there.
Bowles' decision to stay also means that entitlement reform will proceed. Bowles has been adamant about finding a bipartisan, long-term fix for the financial problems of both Medicare and Social Security. He'll try to keep the process from descending into empty rhetoric and long delays.
Another pet issue for the Chief of Staff is trade expansion. With Bowles at the helm, Clinton's free-trade instincts will find a strong supporter in internal debates. That means the White House is more likely to try to resurrect "fast-track" trade authorization. It also means that the Administration will push for further trade liberalization, a top business priority -- despite strong opposition from most Capitol Hill Democrats and the growing chorus of "America-First" Republicans.
Bowles' views reflect the priorities of many in business. He wants a larger investment in education, which he sees as the key to American global competitiveness in the next century. And more incentives for investment in technology.
Bowles is not running the show alone at the White House. His job is to implement the President's policy directives. And Democratic political operatives will spend much of 1998 looking for "wedge" issues to use against the GOP in November's mid-term elections. So the look of the Clinton Administration may be decidely more liberal in '98. But when business execs start to whine about the latest proposal from the White House, they should remember that their list of complaints would be a lot longer without the continuing presence of Erskine Bowles.
Dunham covers the White House for Business Week
Plus if Gore or someone else runs and gets badly beaten in 2004, the Democrats will be very much in favor of running the Clintons in 2000. After two losses they will want someone who knows how to win. That will be her pitch. Plus by 2008 most of the negative stuff about the Clintons will be old news and faded memories. The peace and prospertiy of the 80s will be what is remembered. She can run on that.
If Hillary were running in 2004, the story at this stage would be Hillary raises huge sum for campaign. At this stage a candidate in 2004 would want to impress the party big wigs that they could have huge funds to pay for both presidential and congressional races if Hillary were the candidate.
Hillary will not run in 2004. She will run in 2008. You will know she is ready to run when she starts shifting her image to the right.
She ain't doing that yet.. but by 2008 she will.
Yup,you could tell she was getting serious about it,when learning that a couple of week ago she ordered her staff to tell people to quit refering to her as Hillary Rodham Clinton. She just wants to be called Hillary Clinton now. This was the surest sign yet she is going to run in 2004. She always loses her "Rodham" right before a election.
So, her 'power ' was to make a few bucks on the side with kickbacks from all of the chicken farms, individuals,[both foreign and domestic], [John Huang, McDougal,]insurance companies who sold policies to the state, and so forth.
Given the green light by the Whitewater investigations by congress, and the recent acquittal by the Senate and Robert Ray, her power did not diminish one bit...but only served for her to pursue power in her own name, -she will run...
You make a lot of good points,but Bubbette! is both greedy and power-mad. I think she is laying plans for 2004,with 2008 as her fall-back position. She definitely runs then because of the age issue. If a Dim were to win in 2008,it would be at least 2016 before it would be "open" for her again,and she may be a worm farm by then.
Yeah,right. Seems like we all heard that before. She scared him so bad last time he had to drop-out of the race due to "health reasons" that immediately went away once the election was over.
Besides,you can't seriously believe anybody from outside the northeast would vote for a punk like Rudy. He may be the RINO king.
BTW,despite the above,it is my prediction that Bubba-2 will pick Rudy as his VP running mate in 2004. He's going to do this primarily to try and get the electorial votes from the North East. It's his only chance to win if he is running against a Bubbette!/Powell ticket.
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