Stephanopolous Says Clinton Will Focus on Issues

Aired March 10, 1996 10:34 am

WOLF BLITZER, Anchor: Earlier, we spoke with the senior adviser to the president, George Stephanopolous. Thanks for joining us on Inside Politics Weekend.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, Senior White House Adviser: Good to be here, Wolf.

BLITZER: It looks like the dust is settling pretty much on the Republican side. So, if an opportunity knocked for the president to articulate what's going to be his agenda if it's going to be a Bob Dole-Bill Clinton campaign, what is the president's agenda right now?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, he laid it out in the State of the Union. I'm not sure the Republican primary fight is completely over yet. It does look like the senator is going to get the nomination, but it's never over until it's over. We're going to do exactly what the president set out in his State of the Union, and we hope now that the dust has settled. We can get a lot of real work done before we get into heavy campaigning and before the election season starts.

BLITZER: But do you think that- do you think that there's still an opportunity now to balance the budget with Bob Dole as the Republican, as the likely Republican nominee?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Oh, I certainly hope so, because the country still needs this work to get done and there are several items on our agenda. Number one, let's balance the budget. That's the real unfinished business of the last Congress. We have enough savings on the table to balance it. We ought to do it right now.

Number two, welfare reform. The president is committed to getting welfare reform. We have a consensus on how to do it. Again, if the Republicans will do away with some of their more extreme proposals- [crosstalk]

BLITZER: But the president vetoed the original legislation, which many Democrats supported.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, but not the final one. The final one had too many cuts in child care, didn't do enough to encourage work, so the president vetoed it. But he believes that we can get a moderate centrist consensus on welfare reform.

We also have a very important bill, a bipartisan bill, on health reform, that's been introduced by Senators Nancy Kassebaum, a Republican of Kansas, and Ted Kennedy, a Democrat of Massachusetts. It says you can take your health care, your insurance, from one job to another. It says you don't have to lose your health insurance.

BLITZER: Who's resisting that modest health care reform? It seems that there should be bipartisan support, but there are people who are resisting.

STEPHANOPOULOS: There are over 40 Democrats and Republicans together in the Senate who've supported this. It's passed out of committee. But the health insurance industry is now opposing this. They're trying to load up the bill with amendments. So, even though there is broad bipartisan support, they're trying to thwart this health insurance reform again. But we need to get it for a vote. There's a bipartisan consensus we ought to sign it into law now.

BLITZER: On Friday there were good numbers in terms of unemployment for the president, new jobs that were created.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Terrific. Sure.

BLITZER: At the same time, a lot of American middle class workers feel insecure about their job longevity in this difficult period. The president's going to want to point to his successes. At the same time, he doesn't want to sound out of touch. How does he balance those two problems right now - the success story as well as the current failures?

STEPHANOPOULOS: That's a good question, but let's focus first on how important this achievement is. It's not just achievement for the president. It's an achievement for the country. In the last four years, this economy has created over 8.4 million jobs. When the president was running in 1992, he said, `If we get the deficit down, if we invest in education, if we open up our markets, this economy can create 8 million jobs.' He promised it and we got it.

BLITZER: So why do people feel insecure?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, because it is a tough economy for some people right now. And, some people, as they lose their jobs, even though more jobs are being created than lost, people lose their health insurance. People might not have a secure pension. And our agenda is addressed at that kind of insecurity. The Kassebaum-Kennedy health insurance bill will address the insecurity having to do with no health insurance.

We believe that we ought to do more to secure pensions and we've stopped the Republican plans to allow companies to dip into their corporate pension funds. And, we want to do more to create more secure pensions for people. We also want to do more to encourage education, which is the key to good jobs and high- wage jobs. That's why we need more student loans, more investment in Head Start, and more money for job retraining.

BLITZER: Now, there's an article in Friday's Washington Post which talks about Labor Secretary Robert Reich, and the lead of the article says that Reich is `driving his colleagues nuts,' supposedly by `going off the reservation, coming up with his own proposals. Bob Rubin, the Treasury secretary, doesn't like them. Laura Tyson, the president's chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, doesn't like them.'

Is Bob Reich out of touch with the rest of the administration?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Oh, not at all. In fact, I think that our economic team, led by the president and now Laura Tyson as the head of the National Economic Council, they've had remarkable success. Look at the difference between now and four years ago. The deficit's been cut in half. Unemployment is down from over 7 percent to 5.5 percent - a low.

BLITZER: And, Reich's proposals in order to reward companies that treat workers better by giving them tax breaks - did the president support that?

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, the president's economic agenda is focused on balancing the budget. It's focused on investing more in education and training. We believe that some tax relief, if it's targeted towards productivity, is a good thing. And, we're open to analyzing other proposals, but we have our agenda. We have our budget and it's focused on education and bringing down the budget deficit.

BLITZER: Now, the president, in 1992, as you know, when he was running for the presidency, ran as a new Democrat, as a centrist. Some people thought he moved to the left after he took office. Now he seems to be anxiously trying to recapture his new Democrat credentials, especially on this issue of affirmative action, which you worked on so closely over the past year or so. Has the president completely abandoned the notion, at least for the next three years, of set-aside programs for minorities and for women?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Oh, not in the least. Let's get the proposal straight. Number one, the president believes that affirmative action, when it's done right, is in the interest of the country. And that's why, as he said in his big speech last July, we have to mend it, not end it. He also believes that minority contracting by the federal government is important. And, in fact, the Justice Department report says it's in a compelling government interest. But you have to make sure it complies with the standards set by the Supreme Court in the Adirand decision. You have to make sure that it's narrowly tailored, and that's what our proposal does.

BLITZER: Well, people think that the president is trying to tailor his views to California, for example, which is a state critical to his re-election, where affirmative action is apparently not very popular.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, I think that's just a misreading of the president's policy and the president's principles. The president believes that we should do affirmative action if we do it correctly. He's against the California civil rights initiative, and he's for targeted programs and affirmative action in education and employment as long as they comply with the Supreme Court guidelines.

BLITZER: You helped Bill Clinton get elected four years ago. If it is a Bill Clinton-Bob Dole race, why should Americans vote for Bill Clinton as opposed to Bob Dole?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Because he kept the promises he made in 1992.

BLITZER: Welfare reform still is not enacted. That was a big promise, right?

STEPHANOPOULOS: It's not enacted yet, but- and the president has proposed welfare reform. He's worked with the Congress to have welfare reform. He's helped develop consensus for proposals. Now, he has rejected the more extreme Republican proposals which call for orphanages and don't have enough money for child care, and cutting the school lunch programs. But he does believe we should have welfare reform which requires work and which does protect children, and he's very, very committed to that.

The economy is doing well. We are working for peace abroad and at home for security. We've put 100,000 new police on the street.

BLITZER: So, it's still `the economy, stupid?' Is that a major issue going into the-

STEPHANOPOULOS: Absolutely, and the president wants to make sure we keep this economic recovery going over the next four years and you do that by balancing the budget, but doing it in a way that protects people, that protects Medicare, that protects Medicaid, that protects the environment and protects education.

BLITZER: And the pitfalls, potentially? Whitewater - is that a potential bump along the road.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I don't think so. I think there are an awful lot of Republicans who are going to try and make an issue out of Whitewater as we head into the election year. I mean, it's no secret that the chairman of the Senate Whitewater committee is also the chairman of Bob Dole's reelection effort. So, we understand partisan politics. But on the substance, the Clintons have answered every single question and a report just issued by a former Republican U.S. attorney, Jay Stevens - an independent, non-partisan report - says that everything the Clintons have been saying about Whitewater is true. They lost money, they didn't do anything illegal or unethical, they were not involved in fraud, and Mrs. Clinton's work for Madison Guaranty was trivial.

BLITZER: You know, the latest poll we have shows that Clinton is at 39 percent, Bob Dole's at 40 percent. A little bit down from February - 52 to 39 percent. If the election is right now, Bill Clinton wins?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Oh, I think so. But the election's not now, Wolf. He has several more months.

BLITZER: So you're nervous? You're still nervous?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Oh, I was born nervous and I'll die nervous, and I'll be nervous all through this campaign. But I believe the president will win because he has the best ideas for the future, the best ideas for how America can meet its challenges.

BLITZER: Is there going to be another war room?

STEPHANOPOULOS: I think we've had enough of war rooms. When you have the White House, you don't need a war room.

BLITZER: So no more- no more rapid response teams and stuff like that?'

STEPHANOPOULOS: Oh, we'll answer every charge. If people throw out charges, we're going to answer them and we'll be aggressive in this campaign. But the president- you know, there's going to be plenty of time for campaigning, Wolf. Before we get into the heat of this battle, I hope - and the president hopes - that we can get together over the next 60 days in the Congress and really get some work done - balancing the budget, welfare reform, and health care.

BLITZER: All right. It may be difficult, but-

STEPHANOPOULOS: But it's doable.

BLITZER: It may be possible. We'll see. George Stephanopolous, thanks for joining us on Inside Politics Weekend.

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