Word: lott
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...their private talks, Lott has emphasized to Clinton that if they can join to make one tough decision on the CPI, they can avoid "a hundred tough decisions down the road." The pair already have an unlikely record of cooperation: last summer, shortly after Lott succeeded Bob Dole as Senate majority leader, he surprised both his G.O.P. colleagues and the White House by skillfully brokering deals to pass bills that, with Clinton's signature, reformed welfare, increased the minimum wage and made health insurance more portable for workers changing jobs. Those accomplishments helped ensure the re-election of both...
Their shared personal histories, however, suggest that Lott and Clinton are capable of missing the moment. So which will it be? Will they "hold hands and jump off the cliff" together, as Lott likes to say? Or will they hold hands and tiptoe around unpleasant choices...
Born into the Deep South of the 1940s, Lott and Clinton are the sons of demanding moms and alcoholic dads or stepdads. Both were "miracle" children in their mothers' eyes: Clinton was born just after his biological father died in a car wreck; Lott arrived six years after his parents began trying to conceive a child. Lott was an only child and, like Clinton, was treated as an adult from an early age. Both were called upon to mediate frequent arguments between their parents, though Lott's father, unlike Clinton's, was not physically abusive. Still, both men learned...
...Both Lott and Clinton were unathletic in communities that prized prowess on the field. They excelled at their studies, music and campus politics--yet both failed in their bids for student president in college. Both avoided the draft. Both married politically shrewd women from families of higher social standing. Neither man much cares for alcohol, though both enjoy a celebratory cigar. Both are Baptists who believe in "redemption and resurrection"--as Lott often reminds a wayward lawmaker whose vote he is seeking...
...Neither Lott nor Clinton has worked longer than a couple of years in the private sector. Neither has accumulated any significant wealth or cares much about it. Both, however, care deeply about the political power that campaign cash can buy and are willing to trade favors...