National Agenda

I recently received some very exciting mail. And I'm not talking about a sleazy letter from some magazine-selling outfit claiming I won a sweepstakes. I'm talking about a sleazy letter from the majority leader of the U.S. Senate, Trent Lott.Trent -- I call him "Trent"; he calls me "David" -- informs me that I "have been nominated as one of Florida's 15 representatives on the Republican Presidential Roundtable." Trent explains that the Roundtable is "a unique group of only 400 Americans," and that "recently, a vacancy occurred"; he's hoping I will "consider stepping forward to fill it."

CHICAGO -- The Rev Jesse L. Jackson, surrounded by representatives of national civil rights and social justice organizations, opened the annual conference of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition yesterday with the promise to weld those organizations into a force capable of "setting the agenda" for the next presidential election."

Louis W. Sullivan, the secretary of health and human services, sees fatherlessness as "the greatest family challenge of our era," and is urging that the issue be placed "front and center on our national agenda."Speaking in New York before the inaugural meeting of the Council on Families in America, Sullivan detailed yesterday the economic, social and health problems that children suffer when raised without fathers.His comments, observers said, reflected a consensus across the political spectrum that increasing divorce rates, out-of-wedlock births and step-families have weakened family relationships.

I recently received some very exciting mail. And I'm not talking about a sleazy letter from some magazine-selling outfit claiming I won a sweepstakes. I'm talking about a sleazy letter from the majority leader of the U.S. Senate, Trent Lott.Trent -- I call him "Trent"; he calls me "David" -- informs me that I "have been nominated as one of Florida's 15 representatives on the Republican Presidential Roundtable." Trent explains that the Roundtable is "a unique group of only 400 Americans," and that "recently, a vacancy occurred"; he's hoping I will "consider stepping forward to fill it."

"WHAT IS TO BE DONE?" is the Russian equivalent of Hamlet's "To be or not to be." That question was the title of a novel by 19th century author and literary critic Nikolai Chernyshevsky, a book which had such an influence on Vladimir Lenin that the Bolshevik leader used it in one of his most influential theoretical tracts. Today the question is again asked -- this time in regard to Russia's political situation after President Boris N. Yeltsin's re-election.As important as is the symbolism of free elections that now have been institutionalized as part of Russia's democratic reforms, that country's political system is woefully underdeveloped by Western standards.

DETROIT -- The mayor of Cordova, Alaska, is a Green. So are three members of the Madison, Wis., city council; two members of the Ithaca, N.Y., city council; and a former mayor of Yale, Mich.A major factor in European politics for a decade, Green politics -- which stresses ecology, social justice, grass-roots democracy and non-violence -- is just taking hold on this side of the Atlantic.This summer, as part of its national agenda, the U.S. Green Party is setting its sights on Detroit.The Greens plan to deploy hundreds of volunteers from around the country in a four-week effort to improve the city's decaying social and physical environment.

YOU CAN see it along the food aisles of your neighborhood grocery store, or even at most fast-food joints: The more environmentally conscious "Green Decade" is upon us.From soup cans made of aluminum instead of wasteful steel to burgers wrapped in biodegradable paper instead of packaged in plastic or polyurethane, companies have realized that it's a plus to market their products to appeal to consumer awareness about protecting the environment.Interestingly, businesses seem to have gotten ahead of the federal government on the environment.

WASHINGTON -- Watching Newt Gingrich strut across the political stage these days, you might infer that he is about to assume the throne as emperor of all he surveys rather than becoming speaker of the House of Representatives.His insistence that he will practice "cooperation" with the Clinton administration but never "compromise" suggests the Republican from Georgia now plans to rule by fiat. Presumably he will learn it isn't that simple.For one thing, Gingrich does not hold a majority in the House large enough to override vetoes by Bill Clinton, who was still president of the United States the last time we looked.

"I'm not a chauvinist. I'm not a racist either. I'm not an 'ist' of any kind."That's the kind of talk you're likely to hear these days from the CBS television executive Don Hewitt, the iron-fisted creator and executive producer of "60 Minutes."Mr. Hewitt has kept his 22-year-old television show at the top of the ratings year after year by exposing the curiosities and dubious deeds of politicians, socialites and other public figures. But now, it's his turn to be scrutinized.In recent weeks, he has found himself feverishly defending his personal values and beliefs -- often to total strangers -- as he has been trotted out as a national symbol of corporate inflexibility and insensitivity.

WASHINGTON -- It is no trick for a president-elect to command the national agenda. Everyone wants to know what the new guy is going to do when he takes office.But Bill Clinton's decision to hold a conference on the economy is still a remarkably shrewd piece of politics that can pay dividends well into his first year in the White House.At the most obvious level, the spectacle of the incoming president sitting around a table with representatives of so many diverse interests is a sharp contrast with President Bush, whose Achilles' heel in the campaign proved to be the perception that he simply wasn't personally involved or even very interested in domestic affairs.

"WHAT IS TO BE DONE?" is the Russian equivalent of Hamlet's "To be or not to be." That question was the title of a novel by 19th century author and literary critic Nikolai Chernyshevsky, a book which had such an influence on Vladimir Lenin that the Bolshevik leader used it in one of his most influential theoretical tracts. Today the question is again asked -- this time in regard to Russia's political situation after President Boris N. Yeltsin's re-election.As important as is the symbolism of free elections that now have been institutionalized as part of Russia's democratic reforms, that country's political system is woefully underdeveloped by Western standards.

WASHINGTON -- Maybe the fiscal advisers of the Almighty should be credited with the idea. The notion of a flat tax, which according to some polls has made Steve Forbes the hot Republican candidate in the early stages of this year's presidential elections, is not new.If Mr. Forbes, who is the front-running Republican candidate according to some polls, had set the rate of his proposal at 10 percent, he could have called it the tithe -- the Church's flat tax...

WASHINGTON -- The new Republican majority in Congress is clear about its formula for putting America back on track: Cut welfare, fight crime with more police and prisons, slash taxes, gut social programs, shrink government.That formula alarms many African-American leaders and analysts, who believe it carries a troubling racial undertone because it threatens programs that disproportionately benefit blacks and members of other minority groups."I think there was an us-and-them scenario underlying this election and this agenda," said Robert T. Starks, a political scientist at Northeastern Illinois University.

WASHINGTON -- Watching Newt Gingrich strut across the political stage these days, you might infer that he is about to assume the throne as emperor of all he surveys rather than becoming speaker of the House of Representatives.His insistence that he will practice "cooperation" with the Clinton administration but never "compromise" suggests the Republican from Georgia now plans to rule by fiat. Presumably he will learn it isn't that simple.For one thing, Gingrich does not hold a majority in the House large enough to override vetoes by Bill Clinton, who was still president of the United States the last time we looked.

Washington. -- In 1878, when football was new on campus, Tommy Wilson, a Princeton undergraduate and informal football coach, wrote, ''Everything depends upon the character of the captain and president [of the team].'' Years later Wilson, then known by his middle name, Woodrow, would think of government the way he had thought of football.He said that when a president has the confidence of the country, ''no other single force can withstand him.'' He can be ''irresistible'' in an office that can be ''anything he has the sagacity and force to make it.'' A forthright critic of the separation of powers, Wilson revolutionized the presidential office, treating it not only as the engine of an activist central government, but as the nation's tutor -- ''the moral, spiritual leader of the country,'' as a later Wilsonian, Walter Mondale, was to say.Today Bill Clinton is reduced to around-the-clock dickering with a House of Representatives his party controls, and the House is less than half of his congressional problem.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton took office wanting to focus on the economy. Television had a different agenda.In the first three months of the year, the number of stories on Bosnia by the major TV networks was almost double that on Mr. Clinton's economic package, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonprofit research group in Washington.The trend intensified after April 1, the center said, and culminated in the graphic broadcasts three weeks ago of refugees fleeing a horrific Serb attack on the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton took office wanting to focus on the economy. Television had a different agenda.In the first three months of the year, the number of stories on Bosnia by the major TV networks was almost double that on Mr. Clinton's economic package, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonprofit research group in Washington.The trend intensified after April 1, the center said, and culminated in the graphic broadcasts three weeks ago of refugees fleeing a horrific Serb attack on the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica.

WASHINGTON -- It is no trick for a president-elect to command the national agenda. Everyone wants to know what the new guy is going to do when he takes office.But Bill Clinton's decision to hold a conference on the economy is still a remarkably shrewd piece of politics that can pay dividends well into his first year in the White House.At the most obvious level, the spectacle of the incoming president sitting around a table with representatives of so many diverse interests is a sharp contrast with President Bush, whose Achilles' heel in the campaign proved to be the perception that he simply wasn't personally involved or even very interested in domestic affairs.