INAUGURATION 1997: NO GUTS, NO GLORY

ON THE EVE OF HIS INAUGURATION, CLINTON IS THINKING IN LOWERCASE TERMS. BUT THE BIG ISSUES--LIKE SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE--NEED BIGGER ACTION BY FAR

There's a whole lot of soaring going on at the White House these days. To get ready for next week's Inaugural Address, Bill Clinton has been flight-testing an array of lofty themes and presidential postures designed to make him look good in the history books. In his recent speeches, Clinton has styled himself as the National Unifier, a Reconciliation Man who will show America the way to the "vital center," where good things get done. Aides say he sees himself as T.R. with a drawl: just as Teddy Roosevelt used his bully pulpit to lead the country through a perilous transformation...

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