clinton's first 100 days and janet reno and branch davidians and waco

Thus, the focus of Clinton for his first 100 days had to be, as a famous sign said in his office, "The Economy, Stupid." The budget deficit had increased enormously in the 1980s, and Clinton felt that this problem had led to the economic slowdown of the early 1990s. He would focus on the economy "like a laser," giving a tax cut to the overburdened middle class and raising corporate and individual taxes on wealthy people. Actually, his message to the American people on February 15 and to Congress on the 17th had no mention of middle-class tax cuts. All would be called on to share the burden because the deficit was much larger than he had been led to believe. But, the good news was, from Clinton's perspective, that 70% of the tax increase would not be borne by middle class taxpayers. Well, his proposals, of course, were much more complex than this, but you get the drift. Governing would be much more difficult that handing down proposals from Mount Olympus. As Mario Cuomo said, "We campaign in poetry, but we govern in prose." But, his goal was to cut the deficit in half in four years, and we know from hindsight that he did it.

The First 100 Days

Three things got Clinton off track in the first 100 days (end of April, 1993). First, however, a little victory. Oh, by the way, the tradition of measuring the first 100 days goes back to FDR's first term in 1933, where he got revolutionary legislation passed in those first 100 days. Clinton did have an early impressive victory, when on Feb. 5 he signed the Family and Medical Leave Act, which had languished for a few years because Bush refused to sign it (fearing that it would cost business too much. As it was, the Act has been one of the more helpful pieces of family-oriented legislation passed by Congress in the past 15 years. It is ironic to me that the party which was promoting "family values" would oppose such clear "family values" legislation. It confirms that the "family values" label was just a shibboleth, just a code word to try to hammer the opposition). Now, to the losses...

Clinton's first big mistake was his inability to find an attorney general. He wanted a woman for the post (actually, he tried, and largely succeeded, in making his Cabinet reflective of the diversity of America), and so it seemed that he would first run through every woman who hired illegal immigrants to watch her kids before finding one that didn't. Finally, on Feb. 11, he had a "live one," to quote his chief of staff, in Jane Reno. But she wasn't confirmed until March 11, well after a big problem had broken out (more about that below). But his repeated failures in getting an AG made Clinton seem to be an amiable, if not misguided, boob.

The second "mistake" was in being distracted with his "gays in the military" issue. Clinton isn't very clear on all the dynamics of why that issue came to the fore when it did, but he says that on January 25, five days after he took the oath of office, the Joint Chiefs requested an "urgent" meeting with him about the issue. He doesn't say if this was a response to something he had already set in motion or was simply to vent some concerns they had about what he would do. From the gaps in Clinton's account, it could have been a sort of "set up"--where the military folk, which were all Republican appointees, might have wanted to "steal his thunder" early in the Administration by potentially embarrassing him. I don't think this is the case, but there may be some truth in it. Clinton was inexperienced in Washington. There was no secret that even though Colin Powell was the consummate military officer he didn't like the Clinton-Gore approach to governing one bit (when Powell was at Willamette University last December he rolled his eyes describing the informality of a Clinton Cabinet meeting). So, I have to leave that one undecided at this point. It did cause a major "distraction" for Clinton for months, however.

The Big Mistake

I think the biggest mistake, which few people talk about these days, was the deadly bungling of the raid of the ATF officials on the Branch Davidian headquarters outside of Waco TX on April 19, 1993. Just do a Google search on the topic if you want to know a lot more. Suffice it to say that on Feb. 28, 1993, the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms...in the Treasury Department), which had been tipped off about the Branch Davidians' collecting weapons since summer 1992, finally decided to raid the complex. Only problem was, the ATF had called a local ambulance company to notify them that they should be on the ready (possibility of a shoot-out, which is what happened), the ambulance company notified the newspaper, the newspaper reporter got lost on the way to the Branch Davidian compound and asked a local mailman where it was, the local mailman happened to be the brother-in-law of David Koresh, who was the leader of the Branch Davidians. Of course, the brother-in-law called Koresh, who set up his people to shoot to kill, and in the ensuing attempt of ATF to raid the compound four of them were killed and 20, a full 1/4 of the agents sent along, were injured. Several Davidians were killed.

This set off a 51-day standoff, which was miserably ended by a decision made by Reno which Clinton approved. He recounts it inadequately in his autobiography. The decision was to tear-gas the facility, even though there were possibly 25 children in the house. As it was, the facility caught on fire, incinerating more than 80 people. Justifications for it were easily forthcoming--these are "bad" people, Koresh was another Jim Jones, the kids were abused, etc. etc., but nothing, in my mind, could cover up the fact that Clinton, working through a terribly inexperienced AG, made a very poor decision. I think what was behind it was that the FBI, which had already spent upwards of $50 million on the siege, just wanted to end it. It was the high-handed and dumb manner in which this siege was ended that led, ultimately, to the bombing of the Murrah building in OKC exactly two years later. Dumbness has its consequences.

Conclusion

Clinton had some achievements in these days, too, such as giving aid to Russia and Boris Yeltsin to ensure support for him in a precarious time in Russian post-Communist era. By the end of April, however, Clinton was not out of the woods, but he was beginning to get some of his political instincts back. His strong preparation on economic issues would put him in good stead for the remainder of his first term. But, as of the end of April 1993, as some Republicans were fond of saying, "At the White house there were just two senior people--Christopher (Warren Christopher) and Bentsen (Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen). Other than that it was just 'Home Alone.'"

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