He's no Bill Clinton - comparison to Harry Truman - Cover Story

Washington Monthly, May, 1995 by Daniel Franklin

This is fine if your only concern is winning reelection, not so fine if you want to solve the country's problems. Clinton has staked his presidency on the passage of his economic and social programs and fought like a junkyard dog for his victories. Elizabeth Drew recounts in On the Edge that during the battle to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement, "Clinton threw himself into the fight--meeting members of Congress in one-on-one sessions, making many phone calls to them, giving speeches, meeting with opinion leaders, meeting with individual members. Shortly before the vote, there were White House dinners for undecideds." He brought the same energy and conviction to the fight to pass the Global Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Clinton was willing to alienate the labor interests that are among the Democrats' strongest constituents because he believed that the treaty would produce jobs for the country. Regardless of your opinion of these treaties, you must respect the fact that he risked his neck to get them passed.

Clinton has stuck to the path of ambitious achievement throughout his presidency and tried to avoid the partisan posturing that might serve him better at the polls. His success, by any objective measure, has been astonishing. Eighty-six percent of the legislation he endorsed has passed through Congress, a record unmatched by any president since Johnson.

The bills he has passed will make real contributions to the welfare of millions upon millions of Americans. Take education policy. While the economy has changed, putting a higher premium on education and skills, the American education system hasn't. Everyone knows that a high school diploma no longer guarantees a good job. But before Clinton took office, high school graduates who did not go on to college--nearly 40 percent--were stranded because the United States was the only major industrial nation without a vocational apprenticeship program.

Clinton's Schools-to-Work program created a network of apprenticeship programs to give those students real job skills that can't be learned in high school. The students intern with workers--electricians, plumbers, carpenters--and learn the skills needed to find and keep a job. When the program reaches full implementation, one-half million students will be enrolled annually. That's one-half million more skilled workers entering the workforce every year than before the program.

To counter the staggering growth in college tuition, Clinton reformed the student loan program so it would lend money directly to college students, and collect the debt as a percentage of their income. Previously, students received their college loans through banks and paid back a set amount for 10 years. From 1985 to 1991, the size of the average college graduate's total debt had jumped 150 percent. For many, the debt was stifling; 40 percent of graduates said their debt payments forced them to work two jobs.

But under Clinton's plan, defaults will be cut drastically because the debt payments, extended over a 25-year-period and based on the graduate's income, are manageable. A graduate with a $30,000 income and a $50,000 debt will pay $345 per month, instead of the $581 under the previous plan. As graduates' salaries rise, so do the amounts of their debt payments. As a result, graduates are able to perform low-paying but meaningful work, such as teaching or social work, that the country desperately needs.