Word: begala
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...about last year's Clinton campaign, but that's probably because many of those watching were too choked up by the memories, and their own performances. About half the audience at the Key theater in Georgetown were veterans of the campaign, and half of those were on-screen. Paul Begala, James Carville's partner, wiped away a tear as he watched the scene in which he is a voice speaking from the campaign plane to his spiritual twin on the ground in Little Rock, Arkansas, George Stephanopoulos, the day before the vote. "Paulie," Stephanopoulos says in his power whisper...
...Begala's argument makes a virtue of necessity: retreating to passivity would doom Clinton for sure. But the polls describe a suspicious electorate that views the President's call for "more efficient" government as a cover for bigger government and more spending, which the voters very definitely do not want...
Nonetheless, Begala urges pressing ahead. "The President has raised expectations pretty high," he concedes. "He has to deliver now, and it's in the Democratic Congress's interest to help him." Why? "Because people want change even though it scares them. We should pass all kinds of stuff and then go to the voters and say, 'Hey, some of it may not work, but we're finally doing things. We've got this baby humming now, and that's what's important...
...Begala, the more sober of the duo -- which isn't saying much, since it's hard to imagine anyone more crazed than Carville -- saw lots to worry about. In fact, in the battle about whether the '93 results mean everything (the Republican view) or nothing (the President's), Begala is a virtual heretic. "What these Republican victories mean is that the folks in Congress, who * are risk averse to start with, are now going to be more skittish than ever," Begala said. "And that includes most Democrats. The fear of change is being fed, big time...
...which Paul Begala merely sighs in agreement. "I'm beginning to feel like General Custer in that old joke -- where he looks up kind of startled and says, 'Where the hell did all these Indians come from?' Only our Indians are Republicans -- and now they'll be even less inclined to listen when we urge them to put country before party." Which means that from here...