Douglas
Schoen gave Bill Clinton good advice: to change his administration's
agenda "from one of big-spending liberalism (represented by his attempt
to massively overhaul the health-care system) to one of fiscal
discipline and economic growth" ("Time for Obama to Pull a Clinton," op-ed, Aug. 27). Bill Clinton took that advice because he put political pragmatism ahead of ideological commitment.
Mr. Schoen should
consider that President Obama and the Democratic Party leaders in
Congress may be unwilling, even incapable, of following the same advice.
Mr. Schoen lays out the risk if they fail to heed his warning: "If
Democrats don't offer this, they will be branded liberal
tax-and-spenders." But has he considered that perhaps Democratic
leaders—President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid—are in fact liberal
tax-and-spenders who wear the label proudly? In 1995 Bill Clinton could
disavow his health-care proposals because Congress refused to pass
them, but how can Barack Obama disavow his health-care proposals after
signing them into law?
President Obama's position doesn't parallel the Clinton administration, it better parallels the Carter administration.
Stuart Creque
Moraga, Calif.
Mr. Schoen misdiagnoses
the problem behind the president's declining popularity. It isn't a
question of conveying the wrong message; it's a question of advocating
the wrong policies. Mr. Obama cannot persuade voters that he has taken
steps to stabilize the economy, etc., as Mr. Schoen urges him to do,
because the steps the president has taken will not and cannot accomplish
that. If Mr. Schoen wants to give the president some useful advice with
regard to stabilizing the economy, he will urge him to become a
free-enterpriser.
Willis J. Felber
Manhattan, Kan.
President Obama is nothing like President Clinton. He can't admit making a mistake.
Richard Lamb
Kennett Square, Pa.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 