European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 7, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday november 1992 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13torch passes on to baby Boom generation it was past Midnight by the time Bill Clinton and a1 Gore arrived like elated and tardy Rock stars at the final concert of a grueling National tour. They were puffy around the eyes and Raspy around the vocal cords. But if As Singer Paul Simon once wrote every generation throws a hero on the pop charts this was their moment. The baby Boom ers bus tour was finally headed for Pennsylvania Avenue. In the Din of Victory Celebration in front of the old state House in Little Rock ark., the music played the subliminal message of this Campaign done to Stop thinking about tomorrow. The two men in their dark suits and White shirts requisite presidential attire reached Down into the crowd against the final refrain a yesterdays gone yesterdays  at that hour and in that place it was possible to see and hear one Era ending and another beginning. At the end of this exhausting election George Bush a 68-year-old world War ii Veteran the last cold War president has been replaced by Bill Clinton a 46-year-old baby Boomer and Veteran of the War Over the War in Vietnam. When All is said and counted we have witnessed the most striking generational change since a a or old p a a a Ellen Goodman the 70-year-old Dwight David Eisenhower was replaced by the 43-year-old John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1961. But what a different change it is this time. At Juk s inaugural the bareheaded president issued the eloquent and strident declaration of his generations Ascendancy. A let the word go Forth from this time and place a he said a to Friend and foe alike that the Torch has been passed to a new generation of  in that same sentence Juk offered up the Clear unified description of the men who had just taken Power. They were he said a born in we Century tempered by War disciplined by a hard and bitter peace proud of our ancient  where could Bill Clinton find such a Clear description for the transition of his generation these Are the baby Boomers who have gone through the population like the proverbial pig through the Python. Until now demography is All they be had in common. Everything that United the world War ii generation divided the baby Boom generation. Bush s War was a the Good  his generation knew what was expected of men and women. It shared a single attitude toward authority a respectful. It even agreed on their drugs a cocktails and cigarettes. But its children disagreed and often bitterly with each other. They disagreed about War about the roles of men and women about sex drugs Rock n Roll. They disagreed about taking authority or questioning it. As the years went by and the predictions of Boomer victories went sour it seemed that the baby Boom generation had trouble coming into Power because it  resolve its own deep divisions. In a Tough and grueling Way this Campaign did some of the work of Resolution. In Many ways this Campaign was about generational change. Bill Clinton s life showed All the fault lines of the baby Boom years. Indeed he often had a foot on each Side of this great Divide. He opposed the War in Vietnam though he did no to head for Canada. He admitted trouble in his marriage though he did no to get divorced. And be tried marijuana but he did no to inhale. His wife too worked this fault line. She kept her name and then took his. She earned four times his salary and delivered his message. She wrote briefs and baked cookies. The last Warrior of the cold War generation bet the Bank that he could Divide and conquer the baby Boom generation one More time. The Bush Campaign inflamed hard feelings about the Vietnam War pit traditional against non traditional families working against non working mothers. Some of it backfired. Much of it just did no to work. It sounded like ancient his tory. The stuff of the cold War. It May be that this generation has been through enough seen enough to make peace with itself. To put aside the conflicts of its wonder years for its Middle years. It May be Bill Clinton a place in the intr generational wars that fuels his real passion to mediate conflicts to find a Center that holds. As he said again to the crowd a we need a new spirit of Community a sense that we re All in this  one thing we do know. The bumper crop of postwar children were Young in capital letters. They were often less eager to take Power than to Challenge it. They did no to Trust anybody Over 30. As a whole they deferred adulthood i marriage postponed parenthood. It off and could run the delayed believing they country. Now guess what. There a a baby Boomer going to the White House. Turn the music up. Its time. C the Boston glob Clinton Likely to differ markedly from Carter when Bill Clinton takes the oath of office next january it will have been 16 years since a Democrat last moved into the White House. While Jimmy Carter was also a Southern governor and a political moderate it appears that Clinton a approach will differ markedly. Clinton in looking Back at that Era shortly before his not it election Victory said it offered several lessons. Assuming Clinton heeds his own analysis come next year he will a reach out broadly to All segments of the country geographically and politically in making his Case and in forming his new administration. Look for More independents and even some republicans to take several Cabinet and Agency posts. The Clinton team will have a lot younger cast to it. There will also be Many More women and minorities in top jobs. A seek to tackle problems both abroad and at Home before they get out of hand look for the Clinton White House to Deal firmly with the War torn Balkans to step up food Aid to the Horn of Africa and to press the russians on nuclear disarmament. On the Domestic front Clinton will urge Banks to step up their Loans to business in Hopes of jump starting the lagging Economy a focus on no More than a half dozen key issues on Capitol Hill. All of these top priority items will get the full bore treatment from a hands on president while secondary legislative matters will be set aside for later in the term. Leading these first tier initiatives Are a healthcare Reform plan that Broadens coverage while trying to Cap costs and an economic stimulus package. The goal to pass both in his first 100 Days before Clinton turns to the need to restore what he Calls a tax fairness by raising levies on the $200,000 bracket to 36 percent. Ranking Only slightly behind in importance to changing the nation s health system will be efforts to renovate roads Bridges and tunnels to create a National fiber optic data network and to build a High Speed rail system linking . Cities. Some of these efforts will be tied directly into the bid to create More skilled Well paying jobs. Even before work on these proposals begins the new democratic run Congress will Convene Jan. 3 and under current plans quickly pass a Host of Bills previously stymied by Bush vetoes. This time around however As president Clinton plans to sign them into Law. This a a overhang Agenda includes clamping limits on the role of political action committees and letting people Register As voters when they pick up their Drivers licenses. Allowing the National institutes of health to pursue fetal tissue research is vet another item primed to be enacted under Clinton a signature in. Early 1993. But Washington a fast Outing with a Young and dynamic president might soon hit a Speed bump Clinton could face a fiscal crisis when the $4 i Andrew j. Glass trillion Federal debt pushes against a statutory ceiling probably by March. A bid to lift that ceiling is Likely to run into heavy flak from deficit cutting Hawks in con Gress heavily weighted with More than 100 new House members. That in turn May compel the new president to put on the table plans to Cap spending growth As Well As tax increases. Before the votes were counted Clinton said no members of his Campaign staff or transition team have been promised posts in the new administration to Deal with these matters. That task will begin in Earnest in a few Days after the exhausted Victor has a Chance to rest. It is a fair bet however that communications chief George St thanopoulos 31, the communications chief who last week challenged president Bush As a caller to in no a Larry King will play a major role in the Clinton White House. Other Campaign workers Likely to assume senior posts include Bruce Lindsey a Clinton Friend since they worked together in the mid-1960s for then sen. J. William full night d-ark., and Paul Begala a key speechwriter and strategist. If the Clinton years in Little Rock and his National Campaign Are to serve As a guide the White House will be run on a far More informal and Spur of the moment basis than under the republicans Clinton is also Apt to be seen frequently on Capitol Hill plugging his Broad economic recovery and health programs with the lawmakers. Several longtime aides predicted that no one powerful figure will emerge As a Clinton chief of staff in the manner of John Sununu who stood guard Over the Oval office during the first three years of the Bush presidency nor is a a a troika arrangement of the kind favored in Ronald Reagan a first term due to emerge. Instead the aides reported Clinton will follow the models set by two former successful democratic presidents Franklin d. Roosevelt and John f. Kennedy. Historians have described the Roosevelt and Kennedy styles As resembling the spokes of a wheel with the president at the Hub. C Coa new serve cd