Word: naftas
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Gillmor, Goodling and other Republicans say Perot has made no explicit threats to them. Nonetheless, they and others are seriously worried that the Texan and his followers will try to defeat them at the polls next year if they vote for NAFTA. That, says a White House official, is another reason why Clinton chose to take on Perot -- or have Gore do it -- in debate. If the White House can knock Perot down a peg, it will win the gratitude, and maybe the pro-NAFTA votes, of Republicans who would be afraid to tangle with Perot all alone...
Given Perot's prowess as a debater, however, that is a very big if. The White House strategy of taking him on headfirst is risky in the extreme. But not doing so might have been even more chancy. And far too much is riding on the NAFTA vote -- for Clinton, Perot, Mexico, Latin America and the world -- for the President not to give it his best shot...
Take one fine young Democrat to whose campaigns I have always been pleased to contribute. She's planning to vote against NAFTA. She feels bad about this, she will tell you privately, but she's come under a lot of pressure from her constituents, and from labor unions in particular, so she feels her re- election prospects are better if she votes no. The latest poll shows a majority of her constituents are against NAFTA, and it's certainly not her place to speak up and educate them. That's what leaders are supposed to do, not Congresspersons...
...polls. Except when serious campaign money is involved, and then he or she generally follows the money. (Do you think the average Congressperson really believes 18-year-olds must have the "right" to buy handguns with silencers and armor-piercing bullets?) So if Lee Iacocca, who's joined the NAFTA push, can just get those poll numbers up -- and happily, they're rising -- then the Congresspersons will be able to vote yea. To many of them, this will be a relief...
...problem with NAFTA is that, like almost any change, it will disrupt the lives of some Canadian workers, some American workers and some Mexican workers. They are a tiny minority, but anyone who thinks he or she might wind up in that tiny minority is understandably fearful and upset. And vocal. Compounding this, there are those who would play to those fears with demagoguery, rather than minister to them with reassurance and support...