European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 25, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                &. A tuesday january 25, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 13 Lack of credibility afflicts state of the presidency when president Clinton delivers his state of the Union address to night he will face More than the daunt ing Challenge of an election year Agenda crammed with Tough topics. He also will be facing a test that has stumped the leaders of most other free a  in democratic societies around the Globe Are notably weak these Days. From the Strug gling Rokosa warehime in Japan through the just Davids. Broder resigned italia government embattled Balladur in France and Kohl in Germany to major in great Britain and Chretien in Canada leaders Are struggling to main Tain enough political traction to Advance their  than a year ago Bill Brock the former senator from Tennessee Secretary of labor and special Trade representative linked the phenomenon to the revolutionary economic changes sweep ing the world the virtual erasure of National bound Aries to the flow of capital and the Loca Tion of manufacturing and service facilities were lessening the ability of governments to control their National  of Center or right of Center re Gimes of All kinds Are finding it nearly impossible to enact and carry through poli cies that will Cushion the Shock Waves of this economic transformation Brock s analysis also applies to the United states where George Bush struggled and failed and now Bill Clintonia being buffeted by forces he finds hard  beyond those elemental forces there Are additional factors in this country that have made the task of governing far More difficult than it used to be. The weakened condition of our three principal governing institutions parties Congress and the presidency has dam aged the capacity of our system to develop and sustain coherent policy. And their weakness has fed the grow thin Power of two other sets of institutions interest groups and the press that whatever their Utility in other respects Are notably ill equipped to develop National  decline of political parties which have supplied the necessary connective Issue Between executive and legislative authority since the first decades of the american Republic is a familiar tale. It reflects the suburbanization of America and the emergence of television As a principal Means of communication among other forces. But the weakness comes into focus at a time when both elected branches of the National govern ment Are nominally controlled Iby the same party and still the president must struggle to Advance an  reality is that we do not have two parties in Washington. We have 536. The president the 100 senators and the 435 representatives Are each a Politica party of one like his predecessors Clinton found dealing with members of Congress was often tougher than negotiating with Heads of other Sovereign states. The president soon found himself try ing to Cut deals with people who operate in a ruthlessly self interested fashion. The classic Case perhaps came when sen. Herbert Kohl d-wis., a multimillionaire who paid for his own Campaign in formed the president of the unite states that the ceiling on a Gas tax in crease was precisely 4.3 cents. Because Kohl was a potential swing vote Clinton had to  was just one of Many deals that permitted the president to pass a budget by a single vote in the House and by Vic president Al Gore s tie breaking vote in the Senate. Naftal and other issues brought on More such  Clinton won More often than he lost on final passage the bargaining pro Cess too often involved the sacrifice of important National goals like a rational Energy policy for example. Like to play a doer. And it also Cost government some of its moral authority for the Public generally reacted with revulsion to the spectacle of this crude bargaining not realizing it is the inevitable byproduct of a system in which every office seeker and officeholder constitutes his or her own party. The weakening of the presidency is the result of Many forces including the party splintering just discussed. The growth r of government programs has sapped the president s ability to manage anything. Too Many people beyond his reach Federal bureaucrats and even More state and local officials spending Federal Dol Lars do the Day to Day work of govern ing for which he is in theory accountable. This president has struggled even to manage his own White House staff an the fiasco Over the Bobby Ray Inman appointment casts doubt on whether he has figured out How to do it a series of credibility crises has weak ened americans Trust in their presidents from Lyndon Johnson and Vietnam to George Bush on Iran Contra and read my lips no new  Clinton has added to the list with everything from his excuses for missing Mil itary service to the special prosecutor on Whitewater. C Tho Washington Post rhetoric abounds in state of the Union speeches All the Fol Derol surrounding state of the Union addresses illustrates the state of the  president any president enters the House chamber to ridiculously prolonged applause. The a Plauder Are politicians whose excessive Praise of on another expresses ambivalence about Praise any but unlimited Praise May imply limits to their praiseworthy Ness. The president then Speaks to the nation Over the Heads of the audience the Constitution stipulates it is to Congress that the president is supposed to give in formation of the state of the  then an opposition Leader delivers a televised response written Days before he has heard what he is responding to. Inter ranch deliberation has Long since been displaced by rhetoric designed to produce mass effects. Jeffrey k. Tulis of the University of Texas author of the rhetorical presidency notes that leaders of the two political branches did not always speak Pastone another to vast amorphous constituencies. During the first two presidencies those of Washington and Adams the House and Senate formed committees to draft responses to the president s address. The responses were carried to the president who responded to the delegations delivering them. Jefferson ended the practice of delivering the state of the Union message in person to Congress. Henry Adams in his history of Jefferson s administration notes that the Jefferson Madison faction considered the custom of presidents addressing Congress an English habit smacking of monarchical grandeur the lofty instructing the underlings. When the practice of delivering the state of the Union in person to Congress was revived in 1913,the reviver was a former professor of political science who had As professors Are Apt to have a theory. Wood Row Wilson believed that the presidency is the Only of fice Able to or even entitled to impart movement to government. Wilson thought the president must with his rhetoric energize the Public in order to compel Congress. Wilson thus rejected the modest notion of the presi Dency endorsed by the first president and the founding generation. Washington s biographer James t. Flexner says Washington did not visualize the president As a Initiator of policy a prime  Washington wrote the election of the different branches of Congress by free men either directly or indirectly is the Pivot on which turns the first wheel of the govern ment a wheel which communicates motion to All the  conservatives vrho once believed in congressional supremacy now accept the wilsonian Model of the presidency for three reasons. First it Isnow conventional and so Are they. Second Congress is con trolled by democrats. Third their recent hero Ronald Wilson Reagan had the rhetorical skills requisite for a wilsonian presidency. Liberals have two reasons for favouring a wilsonian presidency. The rhetorical presidency is suited to stirring passions such As fear which can reconcile the Public to expansive government. And such a presidency encourages Plebs scutary no deliberative government the framing of Public disputes starkly As us versus  health care Reform the president s probable preoccupation in today s state of the Union address illustrates tendencies of the modern presidency. Reform George f. Will has been identified with the presidency with the implication that any Reform by Congress less sweeping than the president s will reflect the parochialism of a lesser institution. Furthermore the drive for vast expansion of government in the name of Reform has been fuel Edby manufactured fear the declaration that America s health care system is in  what should be a deliberative process is becoming a cartoon conflict of he roes and villains. Inflation in the health care sector has been cited by the president As one of the primary justifications for his 1,300-Page Reform Bill. However that inflation continues to decline to 6.3 percent in the first half of 1993and 4.4 in the second half largely because of reason Able Public and private sector responses to Market. Forces. Yet vice president Al Gore asked whether de Clining inflation indicates a diminished need for Radical surgery on the system says he sees something sinister of i Don t think there s any doubt about what it indicates. It indicates that some of those who were shamelessly exploiting the system got scared to death As health care Reform began to be debated and As the administration and allies of ours in the Congress said that they were going to put the spotlight on the worst exam Ples of abuses in the system. And i mean there s a lot of anecdotal evidence of boards of these companies sit Ting around saying hey we better Cool it and slowdown these Cost increases while this Battle s going on."1does any serious person really believe inflation is significantly caused or contained by cabals of villains probably not but such Fol Derol flows from the rhetorical presidency which will be on display in the House chamber tonight. C Tho Washington Post