Democratic Congress

This week a rare alignment of the national legislative and executive planets will occur in Washington: A Democratic Congress will welcome a newly elected and new Democratic president to town.This happened only four previous times in this century. It hasn't happened since 1977.Some political commentators believe -- and many more Democrats hope -- that the alignment will be a fortuitous one. Maybe not the dawning of a new Age of Aquarius, exactly, but at least a new relationship between Congress and president that will not in any way resemble the past four years, especially the last year.

Congress returns from its summer recess this week to a world turned upside down and the legislative agenda scrambled in the process. Democratic plans to put the spotlight on domestic issues will have to make way for the overriding question of how much aid the United States should provide the Soviet Union -- and in what form. In this arena, President Bush is in his element while his congressional opposition is distracted and divided.Yet even the demise of Soviet Communism will not deflect Senate confirmation hearings on Judge Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court, Robert M. Gates for the Central Intelligence Agency and William Taylor for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

That "gridlocked" Congress scorned by George Bush at the Republican National Convention is quite adept at meshing its political tactics with those of Democrat Bill Clinton. Like the card shark in the country-western song, it "knows when to hold 'em and knows when to fold 'em."In its latest moves, the Democratic leadership has folded its plans to enact appropriations bills totaling more than White House budget requests, thus denying the Republicans ammunition for their big-spender charges, and it has gone along with the president's insistence that 20 rather than 15 B-2 bombers be built, thus bolstering Mr. Clinton's show of toughness on defense.

WASHINGTON --In the face of determined opposition from the Bush administration, the Senate yesterday began an impassioned debate over an exit strategy from Iraq, heading toward a vote on a Democratic resolution aimed at a pullout of American combat troops in 2008. Underscoring the mounting tensions between the Democratic Congress and the White House, administration officials immediately issued a veto threat, though the measure is considered unlikely to win final passage. The administration's statement denounced the Democratic plan in forceful terms, declaring that it would "embolden our enemies" and "hobble American commanders in the field."

"The dirty little secret in Washington," House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt said the other day, "is that the Bush administration has no domestic agenda." Another "dirty little secret" is that there's not much the Democrats will do about it.Unless the recession lingers a lot longer than most economists anticipate, Democratic prospects for overriding another string of presidential vetoes or defeating the Republican standard-bearer who signs them are slim indeed. President Bush seems content, for now, to keep the nation focused on his victory in a war Democrats largely opposed.

The DemocratsThe Democrats say that it's time for a change -- that George Bush has had his chance and that his economic policies have failed.How would we know? The Democratic Congress has refused to pass any of Mr. Bush's policies. The Democratic Congress has allowed America to suffer rather than let George Bush have a chance to see if his economic policy worked.Aren't they at least equally reprehensible -- putting their own political aims ahead of America's well-being?One of the peculiarities of the public's perception of our government is that the president gets all the blame, while Congress actually controls the legislation.

After much speculation and spinning, Henry G. Cisneros has apparently saved the Department of Housing and Urban Development from extinction. He did it by promising to get rid of dozens of programs and to make radical cuts at HUD. "Many aspects of this department are simply indefensible," he said at a news conference Dec. 19 with Vice President Al Gore.It's an extraordinary conversion for Mr. Cisneros. The man who less than two years ago committed himself to "reinventing" HUD with bold new programs, now seems to be throwing his old ideas overboard.

IT'S NOW exactly one year from the 1992 presidential conventions, and there is still no announced Democratic candidate for the presidency with a realistic hope of being nominated. Several candidates seem about to toss their hats into the ring, but it hasn't happened yet.The Democrats are understandably daunted by George Bush's high approval rating. Today,he is clearly a favorite to be re-elected.But there are several good reasons why the Democrats have an obligation to find a good candidate and run the best race possible.

What Americans demand now from their government is that it work. They are moderate about the goals but radical about wanting them met. That is what drove the election.The turnout was large. The vote for the centrist third candidate was huge and, defying convention, grew in the last days. People came out to vote their alienation who normally show it by staying home.The main appeal of Bill Clinton was the appearance of vigor. For that, voters forgave his youth.The recession created this priority.

WASHINGTON -- You are hearing a lot of loose talk these days from both the White House and Republican leaders about trying to find ''common ground'' in the next two years. What a hoot.It is true, of course, that the message from the electorate, to the extent that it could be deciphered at all, is that the voters are sick and tired of partisan bickering and deadlock.But confrontation between President Clinton and the Republican Congress is inevitable. There are too many areas where the political imperatives argue for partisanship.