One good thing about winning re-election: this year Bill Clinton didn't have to consult pollsters to choose his vacation spot. But when he returns next month from three weeks of golf and sun on Martha's Vineyard, the country may wonder if another election looms, because the White House will be dispensing a new dose of the same formula Clinton and his pollsters perfected in last year's campaign. Call it the Cult of the Child. From day care to children's health to keeping schools open all afternoon, the White House will be churning out new kid-focused proposals as fast as Gerber can make jars of mashed bananas.
Kids have already been an important political tool for Clinton, his path to the hearts of the suburban soccer moms who were crucial in 1996 and are likely to be again in 1998 and 2000. By carefully aiming new initiatives at the young--such as his campaign to curb youth (but not adult) smoking, and a provision in the budget bill to give health insurance to 5 million children of the working poor (but not their parents)--Clinton has made winners out of programs that Republicans would otherwise have skewered as Big Government. All year the White House has delighted in trotting out what one Democrat describes as "itsy-bitsy proposals for itsy-bitsy babies," including safety standards for car seats, a plan for controlling kids' access to Internet smut, and a revamped immunization program. Last week Clinton announced that drug companies would be required to test more medicines specifically for use by kids. "Children are not rugged individuals," he said. "They depend upon us to give them love and guidance, discipline and the benefit of good medical care."
Clinton aides see the child initiatives as offering several benefits for the President. They will perk up a fall agenda that is notably lacking in sex appeal, ranging from a projected battle over trade policy to a presidential trip to South America. Democrats are also casting about for issues that will differentiate them in the voters' minds from Republicans, following the bipartisan orgy of the balanced budget. "New programs for kids are a great way to unite the party," says a White House aide; even House minority leader Richard Gephardt, who denounced the balanced budget, is helping plan the kiddie offensive. Most important, Clinton's advisers think children's issues strike a special chord with Americans. "The fastest growing segment of the electorate is the one concerned about protecting children and helping parents be good parents," says Clinton pollster Mark Penn.