Clinton: In With the Old

WASHINGTON: Bill Clinton is still trying to spend that surplus -- and the first baby boomer president wants to set aside the biggest slice for his own aging generation. This is how he suggests divvying up our economic windfall: Saving Social Security (again) gets 60 percent. Medicare gets 16 percent. Pension plans get 11 percent. The rest? New schools, cleaner air, more cops and a panoply of other stocking-stuffers that Clinton insisted he could pay for. He found a little time for foreign policy, a little for free trade and a little for Sammy Sosa -- and even doffed his cap to Hillary, who looked a bit embarrassed. "The State of the Union is strong," he declared, "but we can't allow the hum of our prosperity to lull us into complacency." It was a line that could have been used by either side of the aisle.

There was one surprise: Clinton announced that the Justice Department is preparing to sue the tobacco companies to recoup Medicare costs - although it'll be a bigger surprise if he can explain why the industry should pay states and the feds for the same patients. And unsurprisingly, there were a few wisps of impeachment in the air. Some Republicans clapped wanly, others not at all, and some came dressed as empty seats. Clinton said "bipartisan" enough to choke John McCain. And the master performer's most blatant attempt to work the crowd - a "more balance in the see-saw" joke after one aisle-crossing ovation - fell flat. But Clinton was at his usual speechifying best -- Republicans might even say a little smug, considering the circumstances. "He had something for everyone -- even his Social Security plan had elements aimed at Republicans," says TIME White House correspondent Jay Branegan. "But he still has to share the front pages tomorrow with his own impeachment defense."