CLINTON DID THE BEST HE CIOULD: AMERICANS WERE READY FOR ANYTHING BETTER

President Clinton has achieved his first major legislative victory of sorts. By the thinnest of margins, the Clinton budget as heavily revised by Congress is now law. If you had told Bill Clinton in January that the budget just passed was all that he could beg out of his friendly Democratic Congress, he wouldn't have believed it. How could fellow Democrats not accept the lead of a bold "new Democrat" with a vision for change?

The 43 Percent Factor. Clinton did not march into town with a Roosevelt or Reagan mandate. He bussed into Washington with 57% of the voters having preferred someone else. Presidential power relates directly to proven popularity with the electorate and current popularity in the polls. Clinton, with 43 percent of the vote, didn't have the former and began early on to lose the letter.

Congressional Party Loyalty. The Founding Fathers decided not to copy the British parliamentary system with the executive and legislative branches fused into one entity. Rather they opted to share power between two competing political branches, with tension within the system guaranteed.

Despite this separation of powers, the rise of political parties meant that historically, Senators and Congresspersons of the party in the White House would stay loyal to their president in time of need. The party structure meant something. Politicians were loathe to put themselves at odds with their president. Risky political business to do that.

But today, the parties are moribund. Political power comes from money and television, not ward organizations or party machines. Members of Congress are independent contractors motivated more by what's in it for me than what's in it for my president. In fact, if you denounce your party's leadership and denounce your president, your popularity may go up at home.

Inertia. In America, you can talk about the politics of change, but you can't change politics. Much of the federal government is on automatic pilot regardless of who is president. Some Senators and Congresspersons declare that "we must do something about the entitlement programs" and then in the next sentence say "of course, we must do nothing about the biggest entitlement of all, Social Security." Some Senators advocate cutting back on public works pork barrel but only in other Senators' states. If the new Clinton budget looks something like the old Bush budget, it's because the same atmosphere of inertia surrounded both.

Sacrifice. In America, you can talk about the politics of sacrifice, but you can't put it into practice.

The "$200,000 and Over" Club of America is yelling and screaming about the amount of the new taxes and their retroactivity. A family of four with adjusted gross income of $200,000 and itemized deductions of $30,000 will pay $1,300 in additional taxes and will have almost three years to pay it. Brother, that's "sacrifice" with a little "s." Make you want to cry.

Clinton did the best he could with the budget because the American people really weren't ready for anything better.