High Hopes
The Clinton era; Bill Clinton takes office amid a surge of inaugural optimism and popular good will
All beginnings start with hope. All babies are cute, all brides are beautiful, all new presidents have the sheen of promise and possibility. The scars and scandals will come soon enough. But for the new president and his eager party, now returning to power after 12 years in exile, the inauguration brings a season of fresh breezes, fresh faces and fresh starts. It is a moment that has happened only 20 times in the 204 years since Washington's inauguration: a new president's succeeding a leader of a different party.
As the excited throngs lining Pennsylvania Avenue cheer Bill and Hillary Clinton and Al and Tipper Gore, they are also cheering America's endurance as a vibrant democracy, as a place--still relatively rare in the world--where power transfers peacefully according to popular will. Though disappointment permeates the Oval Office--only one of the last seven presidents has served two full terms--Inauguration Day always summons the special American belief in a brighter future.
A new poll by U.S. News highlights this optimism: Sixty-nine percent of those surveyed view Clinton favorably, with only 25 percent holding a negative view. That represents a remarkable turnaround from Election Day 11 weeks ago, when 57 percent of the voters backed other candidates and more than half voiced serious doubts about Clinton's capacity to be president. Since then, consumer confidence has increased, sparking the best Christmas sales season in five years, and 67 percent of the U.S. News sample now expect their own economic situation to improve over the next year. By a margin of 2 to 1, moreover, voters think they and their families will be better off as a result of Clinton's policies. Americans may not be in love with Clinton, but they do believe he will improve their lives, and they want to give him a chance to prove them right.
Sax symbol. This inauguration, however, signifies more than a shift in party or policy. It also marks a shift of generations, and of cultures. Clinton, who spent his youth protesting a war, is replacing a man who spent his youth fighting one, and the faint whiff of rebellion still clings to the new president. All presidents are remembered for certain symbols--from FDR's jaunty cigarette holder to George Bush's manic cigarette boat. So far, the most memorable image of Bill Clinton is of his wearing sunglasses, playing the saxophone on the Arsenio Hall show. The instrument has become the talisman of the new administration, appearing on everything from earrings to cuff links. The official catalog of inaugural souvenirs features a sax-tooting Clinton emblazoned on shirts, caps and bags encircled by the legend: "The Cure for the Blues." Clinton the Blues Brother is a bit of an outlander, and even if his image has been burnished by the best minds in Hollywood, it reflects a core of validity, and the public believes it.
Hillary Clinton, too, has become an important symbol of the new administration, and her favorable rating is now 63 percent, just slightly below her husband's. Perhaps because of her prominence, the two groups expected to fare best under Clinton are women and children, and the political implications of that are enormous. In postelection surveys, men preferred the Republican Party by four points, but working women favored the Democrats over the Republicans by 20 points.
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