Word: perots
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Richard Riordan has never met Ross Perot. His New York-edged voice sounds nothing like a Texas drawl. And where he resides, among the mansions of Brentwood, they think "clean out the barn" must be a line from a Beverly Hillbillies rerun. Still, when a deft Los Angeles Times cartoonist drew him with jug ears and labeled him "H. Ross Riordan," the subject of the caricature recalls with a smile, he was not only amused but flattered: "I felt I'd arrived...
Many citizens of Los Angeles felt as strongly last week that a Perot clone had arrived in city hall. Immediately after conservative millionaire Riordan won his first election by defeating liberal city councilman Michael Woo 54% to 46%, he was already displaying a get-under-the-hood-and fix-it itchiness. He flew to Sacramento to start hammering state politicians for help in reducing the city's budget deficit, which may reach $500 million this year. He declared he would solve problems by using "simple management techniques," and he did not apologize for pouring $6 million of his own money...
...freaks eat the gawkers. That is pretty much how Michael Crichton sketched the old man in the novel Jurassic Park. But the Hammond played by Richard Attenborough in Steven Spielberg's movie version is another fellow altogether; the director calls him "a cross between Walt Disney and Ross Perot." Hammond is certainly a visionary, a fabulous showman, an enthusiast, an emperor of ice cream, a kid with a great new toy. "Top of the line!" he chirps. "Spared no expense!" Why, he might be Spielberg as a foxy grandpa...
Guinier's demise was doubly demoralizing, coming on the heels of David Gergen's appointment, which horrified many of Clinton's eager young staff members. Gergen, back from a vacation in Bermuda that included a boat ride with Ross Perot, spent part of his first full day at work wandering the halls and hanging around the takeout window of the White House mess, greeting his colleagues like a maitre d'. In his first meeting with the communications staff, Gergen tried irony to defuse suspicion among the Young Turks, identifying nearby offices as the old haunts of former colleagues like William...
Clinton's win in the House would have been broader had public opinion -- led by the deficit-reduction seminars conducted by Ross Perot and by Clinton at his December economic summit -- not moved far ahead of the President in January. The first sign that the Great Listener had lost touch with the public's willingness to sacrifice came in February, when Clinton unveiled a budget that delivered nearly $500 billion worth of deficit reductions but did so primarily through tax increases, not spending reductions. Then in April a $16 billion pork-laden "stimulus" package failed to win Senate approval...