|
|
President Clinton was re-elected, with a large electoral college majority but a 49.2 percent minority of the popular vote (Dole: 40.8 percent; Perot: 8.5 percent). Less than half of the electorate bothered to vote at all. Among the pundits, Clinton's critics said these last two facts--plus his penny-ante campaign platform (school uniforms, etc.)--deny him a "mandate." Conservatives claimed victory, asserting he had won by stealing their issues. Attention immediately shifted to the Cabinet and staff reshuffle. The secretaries of State, Defense, Commerce, Transportation, and Energy announced they are quitting, along with the White House chief of staff. Clinton is expected to seek Republicans for some Cabinet posts, in accord with his commitment to govern from "the vital center" (the new buzz term, from the title of a 1949 book by Arthur Schlesinger Jr.). The most interesting Cabinet speculation focused on Attorney General Janet Reno. White House aides reportedly deem her too independent, but, for that very reason, they can't boot her amid Clinton's ethical and legal troubles. Meanwhile, Bob Dole relieved anxious Republicans by rejecting the possibility of heading up a bipartisan commission to reform Medicare. | | Republicans retained control of Congress, with a smaller majority in the House and a larger one in the Senate, meaning at least two more years of divided government. Most voices (USA Today, the New York Times editorial page, Clinton himself) interpreted this as a voters' plea for bipartisan cooperation. Others (Thomas Edsall of the Washington Post, SLATE) inferred that rival factions of the electorate were sending Clinton and the GOP Congress into the arena to maul each other. GOP leaders declared victory over organized labor's expensive ad campaign, and claimed that the election had "consolidated" their realignment. Journalists assured each other that Republican assaults on various Clinton scandals would provide early and perpetual blood sport. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott was declared the GOP's new boss, supplanting Speaker Newt Gingrich. Everyone agreed Congress would cage Clinton and prevent any liberal adventurism. |
|
|
Boris Yeltsin survived quintuple heart bypass surgery. American heart surgeon Michael DeBakey called Yeltsin's heart a "beautiful muscle," pronounced him vigorously healthy, and predicted "10 years of pretty good survival." Yeltsin's recuperative powers became an overnight legend: The Los Angeles Times claimed that Yeltsin signed a decree reclaiming his presidential powers while still on a respirator. The prognosis was that he'll be running the country full time by January. "A long-predicted investment boom could finally come if Yeltsin heals quickly," ventured the Times. | | California voters passed ballot Proposition 209, which abolishes racial preferences for state jobs, contracts, and college admissions, as well as Proposition 215, which lets health-care providers prescribe marijuana for pain relief. Analysts theorized that Californians were issuing a libertarian mandate. Arizona passed a similar drug proposition, which also forbids incarceration of nonviolent recreational users on their first or second offense. Colorado voters rejected a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing parents an inalienable right "to direct and control the upbringing, education, values and discipline of their children." Colorado's governor touted the defeat as a rebuke to the religious right. The press ritually hailed all the ballot measures as harbingers of new national trends. |
|
|
Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was deposed by her own handpicked president on charges of corruption and sanctioning political violence. The ouster was constitutional under an obscure clause that has been used four times since 1988, twice against Bhutto. Bhutto, long adored by the West as Pakistan's lone beacon of democracy, called it another treacherous power grab against her family. But this time, commentators concluded that Bhutto's halo has worn off. Pakistanis now widely regard her as vengeful and incompetent, and they think her husband is a crook. The New York Times and Washington Post called her "autocratic," and agreed that democracy and constitutional rule can go on without her. | | Texaco executives were caught on tape using racial slurs (most notably, "black jelly beans," along with the n-word and contemptuous jokes about Kwanzaa) and conspiring to shred documents relevant to a discrimination lawsuit. The story produced calls for a boycott and a slide in Texaco's stock. Texaco responded with a PR blitzkrieg featuring an apology, an internal investigation, a review of the company's diversity training, and the suspension (with pay) of two of the executives. Liberals said the tape proves that racial discrimination persists and therefore, affirmative action remains necessary. |
|
|
The death toll from thirst, starvation, and disease continued to rise among the 1 million refugees fleeing war in central Africa. Battles between the Zairian army and Tutsi rebels have forced humanitarian-aid workers from the area; the conflict is an offshoot of the Hutu-Tutsi violence in neighboring Rwanda. The European Union met to discuss the crisis, but failed to agree on anything other than a plea for United Nations intervention. Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported that the United Nations was locked in "bureaucratic paralysis." France and Spain want the United States to contribute troops to a multinational force to protect and assist the refugees; the United States is refusing to go along until the force's mission, size, and tenure are clarified. | | British Telecom announced plans to acquire MCI for more than $20 billion. It would be the third-biggest corporate acquisition in American history and the biggest by a foreign company. Everyone noted the contrast between MCI's lean aggressiveness and BT's well-endowed solidity; optimists said MCI's culture would invigorate BT, while pessimists said BT's culture would encumber MCI. Optimists said the alliance would overshadow the slimmed-down AT&T. Skeptics said AT&T's slimming down, unlike MCI's sudden giantism, was a wise adjustment to a telecom market that rewards agility, not bulk. AT&T spun the buyout as an economic-sovereignty issue, complaining that BT was monopolizing Britain's phone market while invading America's. Consumer advocates said that from the standpoint of encouraging price competition, they'd rather see MCI swallowed by foreigners than by the Baby Bells. |
|
| David Brinkley, about to retire as host of ABC's This Week, insulted President Clinton during ABC's election-night broadcast. Brinkley referred to Clinton's speeches as "goddamned nonsense" and, after being warned by Peter Jennings that he was on the air, added that Clinton "has not a creative bone in his body. Therefore, he's a bore, and will always be a bore." There was speculation about whether Clinton might back out of a valedictory interview with Brinkley scheduled for his final show this weekend. The uproar interrupted Brinkley's promotion of his new book, Everyone Is Entitled to My Opinion. |
|
| Unheralded Italian runner Giacomo Leone won the New York City marathon; Romanian Anuta Catuna placed first among women. The New York Times reduced the story to ethnicity, proclaiming that the Europeans had beaten the Africans. There were hints that cold weather may have been involved, as hypothermia and dehydration hampered the Kenyan favorites. There was little opportunity for American breast-beating, however, since no American finished in the top 20. "Foreign domination of marathoning was never more apparent," lamented the Times. The other hot topic was the perfection of Leone's nicely gelled hair. Overlooked: Catuna was the first palindromic winner in the marathon's history. |
|
| Celebrity news: Michael Jackson announced that he has impregnated a longtime friend. Jackson denied that the friend had been artificially inseminated or paid for her services. Responding to a boycott by celebrities organized by television star George Clooney, the television gossip show HardCopy announced that it will abandon aggressive tactics such as paying for videotapes that violate celebrities' privacy. |
|
| Miscellaneous: Hard liquor companies announced they will end their voluntary ban on TV and radio commercials, pleading unfair competition from beer and wine. Mississippi Gov. Kirk Fordice was critically injured in a car accident but was expected to survive. Retiring Sen. Nancy Kassebaum will marry former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker Dec. 7. The New York Times reported that letters slated for auction at Sotheby's this month expose Albert Einstein's "dark," "brutal," and "cruel" behavior toward his wife and children. Researchers reported that parents who are single and earn less than $40,000 read to their children more than those who are married (or cohabit) and earn more money. |
|
| --Compiled by William Saletan and the editors of S LATE. |
|
Photograph of President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton by Gary Hershorn/Reuters; photograph of Yeltsin's surgeons by Viktor Korotayev/Reuters; photograph of ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto by Muzammil Pasha/Reuters; photograph of Zaire refugee children by Peter Andrews/Reuters
