Urging the Boss to Lighten Up

By MICHAEL DUFFY WASHINGTON

The annual retreat for Democratic Senators in the Virginia Tidewater is usually a relaxed affair, with the attractions of golf, beer and barbecue. But for Bill Clinton it was a chance for another 12-hour day of nonstop talk about health care, Bosnia and the deficit. As his hosts tried to sneak in a drink or a bite of supper from the buffet, Clinton was all business and going strong, guzzling mineral water straight from the bottle and grilling individual Senators about how they would reform campaign finance or move the pesky crime bill.

Senators normally prize that kind of courtship, but by 10 p.m., Patrick Leahy had heard enough. The playful Vermont Democrat took the floor and suggested to Clinton, "Mr. President, you can't keep up this pace. The best advice I can give you is, Relax, take a day off once in a while, and get some sleep. It would be good for you, it would be good for the Vice President, and it would sure be good for your staff."

Sitting next to Hillary Rodham Clinton, Alabama's Howell Heflin rose and joined in: "The First Lady wants to go to bed. If you would just stop answering questions, you could go to bed and take the First Lady with you." The room broke into applause.

But the battle for the President's metabolism was far from over. Instead the final week of Clinton's first 100 days resembled a special edition of an Oprah Winfrey show on "Presidents Who Try to Do Too Much and the People Who Love Them." Clinton's desire to accomplish five or six major legislative initiatives this year galvanized Democrats in Congress, Cabinet officers and White House aides into intervening with the policy-addicted President. A show of force, went the thinking, might budge Clinton into lightening his legislative load. Otherwise, Clinton's many cherished proposals might all go the way of his defunct economic-stimulus package.

Budget Director Leon Panetta led the charge. In an interview with a dozen reporters last Monday, the plainspoken former Congressman declared that the President's Russian-aid bill was in trouble, the North American Free Trade Agreement was "dead" and cherished health-care reforms were in for tough sledding. Panetta noted that elements of Clinton's economic plan -- the energy tax, spending plans, key tax credits -- were in jeopardy. To overcome these challenges, Clinton must "define his priorities" more clearly, Panetta said.

Such startling candor shook the White House just as it was warming up the 100-days fog machine. But behind the scenes, many officials were quietly grateful. Panetta's comments echoed warnings from top aides in recent weeks that Clinton was, as one put it, "everywhere, and nowhere, at once." Though officials dutifully huffed that Panetta was "off the message," they hastened to note that they concurred fully with his conclusions. Within days, Clinton had throttled back; his proposal for reforming campaign finance had been postponed, and measures on crime and welfare reform were sidetracked. As a relieved Democrat put it, "What Leon did was help the patient out of the denial phase."

The lighter agenda is in keeping with public sentiment. In a TIME/CNN poll last week, only 37% of those surveyed believe Clinton has had the right priorities and 49% think he is overextended. Another worrisome sign for the President is that Americans are growing skittish about his economic plan. In late February, a TIME/CNN poll found that only 35% believed that Clinton's plan would increase taxes too much, but by last week that number had grown to 57%. Overall, Clinton's job-approval rating has slipped from 56% in late February to 48% last week.

At the heart of the struggle over presidential pacing is whether the Administration should push ahead quickly with Hillary Clinton's soon-to-be- announced plan to reform the nation's health-care system. Clinton's team and its congressional allies are deeply divided over the matter and extremely reluctant to talk about it. One faction, led by House Speaker Tom Foley and backed quietly by officials at Treasury and the Budget Office, would prefer to put health-care reform off indefinitely, certain that the vast majority of Americans are going to pay more to get less. A White House official dismissed the faction, regarded internally as reactionary, with a wave: "We're just going to have to drag them along for the ride."

The liberal faction wants to move health care immediately, despite the costs. This group, which includes Mrs. Clinton, Health Secretary Donna Shalala, Labor Secretary Robert Reich, Veterans chief Jesse Brown and various members of Congress, argues that it is too expensive and risky to wait until next year. They believe the long-term, deficit-reducing potential of health reform is essential to meet Clinton's economic goals. And, they point out, passing health care in an election year will be next to impossible because of the taxes that will be required. One member of this group argued last week that by pushing for health-care reform, Clinton will "get credit for being bold."

In the middle are the straddlers, a large group that agrees health care must be reformed but is concerned that a big push now will cause Clinton to lose control of his already shaky economic plan. In this category fall the likes of top White House economic officials and political advisers who warn that Congress can deal with only one big problem at a time. Asks a White House aide, "We're going to have a big fight over all these painful taxes and then, suddenly, we're going to add health care too?"

For now, Clinton is siding with the straddlers. Aides say he may not fully unveil health care until June, hoping that by then the House and Senate will have nearly finished wrestling with unpopular tax increases and spending cuts in the economic plan. But they add that Clinton will then have no choice but to push hard for reform, even if he harbors doubts about his ability to win passage this year. Any hesitation, aides say, could doom the plan.

Opponents shouldn't count on it, though, for part of Clinton resists giving in to skeptics. He has talked increasingly of late about "changing the way Washington works," and he sees health care as a powerful weapon in that task. As he said to one Senator last weekend in Virginia, "I don't have to have this job. I like it, and I wanted it. But I didn't take this job not to change things. That's what I want, and that's what I think we Democrats, with some Republicans, can do. I'm willing to take the risk, and I hope you'll take it with me."