ABSTRACT
In his first year in office, Bill Clinton has seen many of his good ideas—an economic stimulus program, an energy tax, the extension of civil rights to gays in the military—defeated or eviscerated, in large part, for want of an effective political strategy to ensure their adoption. This chapter focuses on countering bad environmental regulations rather than develop the notion of an integrated, global, healthy environment. In the interest of exploring the opportunities for progressive reform in the "Clinton moment" and the strategies required to translate progressive ideas into political reality, the Institute for Policy Studies brought together five leading political analysts to participate in the roundtable discussion. The Clinton administration's original proposal called for limiting campaign spending, curbing special-interest funding, ensuring all candidates greater access to television, and giving some real authority to the Federal Elections Commission. People are feeling extraordinary pressures because of a national health-care crisis and a jobs crisis.
