Issue 1 is the stock market slump. Issue 2 is Elián. Issue 3 is President Clinton’s statement on pardons.
Appearing on Fox News Sunday and ABC’s This Week, Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers says that despite the turmoil on Wall Street, the economy’s fundamentals are good: Productivity growth is up, corporate earnings are up, and inflation is still closer to New Economy levels than Old Economy ones.
The pundits split on the political fallout. Paul Gigot (PBS’s NewsHour With Jim Lehrer), George F. Will (TW), and Lawrence Kudlow ( McLaughlin Group) think that since a majority of Americans are investors, any Wall Street downturn will hurt Al Gore’s chances, no matter what happens in the “real” economy. George Stephanopoulos (TW) thinks that Greenspan may raise interest rates early this summer, which would hurt voters around election time. And Gigot, John McLaughlin (MG), and Tony Blankley (MG) think that a bad economy will help George W. Bush sell his tax cut as a nostrum. However, Tucker Carlson (CNN’s Late Edition) reminds that the Nasdaq is still 60 percent higher than it was when Alan Greenspan warned about “irrational exuberance” several years ago. And many talking heads–such as Jeffrey Toobin (TW), Susan Page (LE), and Mark Shields (NH)–believe that the downturn will actually help Al Gore, who can sell voters on his experience in setting economic policy and can cast George W. Bush’s tax cut as risky.
Lawyers for Elián González’s Miami relatives continue to smear Juan Miguel González. This week, Jose Garcia Pedrosa (NBC’s Meet the Press) insinuates that Elián’s father is a child abuser and sexual molester. Later on MTP, former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter agree that Elián should go back to his father. (Making an exception for Elián, says Ford, would “open a Pandora’s box.”) Jeffrey Toobin (TW), Mark Shields (NH), George Stephanopoulos (TW), and Tom Fielder ( Washington Week in Review) praise Attorney General Janet Reno’s “social worker”-like dedication to achieving a peaceful resolution, while Susan Page (LE) avers that the controversy is not about “where [the child] should be” but “who speaks for the child.” Everybody agrees that Gore has outdone himself in pandering to Miami voters.
George Stephanopoulos (TW) and Lawrence Kudlow (MG) argue that Clinton has not ruled out seeking a pardon from a President Gore; the language he used in his pardon announcement last week–like his denial of “sexual relations” with Monica Lewinsky–left him wiggle room. On MTP, former President Ford defends his pardon of Nixon, arguing that his decision did not exonerate Tricky Dick so much as wipe the slate clean so that the country could heal. In this vein, Tony Blankley (MG) and Lawrence O’Donnell (MG) argue that a President George W. Bush might in fact pardon Clinton as a gesture of national healing.
Miscellany
On FNS, John McCain appears conciliatory toward George W. Bush. He hopes Bush will take up a reform agenda, but says that Bush doesn’t owe him anything. … The entire TW roundtable agrees that George W. has done well since he sealed the GOP nomination. His run to the center has all but erased the memory of Bob Jones. … McLaughlin’s Lawrence Kudlow says he knows why the market tanked on Friday: It was the day before taxes were due. Investors became bearish after ruminating about their onerous tax burden–and some even sold their stocks to free up enough cash to pay Big Brother.
Celebrity Journalism
Bob Schieffer (CBS’s Face the Nation) thinks Leonardo DiCaprio’s interview of President Clinton on ABC could be the start of a trend: If viewers really had their say, Schieffer believes, movie stars would replace all TV journalists. Tom Hanks could replace Tom Brokaw. Fred Astaire, were he still around, could replace Peter Jennings. And Hilary Swank could replace Cokie Roberts one week, George Stephanopoulos the next. Of course, no one could fill Dan Rather’s shoes.
Last Word
Look, this is just way too premature, and the fact that you all are having this rain dance here, praying for some further [economic] downturn in order to elect a Republican, seems to me pretty bizarre, even from [the perspective of] your own self-interest.–Eleanor Clift (MG)
