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In every walk of working life -- from laboratory research to selling used mopeds to corporate law -- the bigfoots of the office often take full credit for the creativity of their underlings. Suddenly, your brainstorm is the boss's brainstorm, and damn if he doesn't get a bonus for it.
But nowhere is the art of idea theft more blatant and hypocritical than in the political arena. The Grand Master, of course, is William Jefferson Clinton, a President who never met a thought that wasn't originally his. Clinton sucks in policy proposals like popcorn at an Arkansas drive-in movie. He rolls someone else's notion in sugar or drenches it in salty tears and then drawls it out as his own.
MONKEY-SEE, MONKEY-DO.
When the history of the Pinocchio Presidency (has anyone noticed the size of the man's nose lately?) is written, it will be recorded that he got the North American Free Trade Agreement passed, pushed through welfare reform, and balanced the budget. But would he have rammed NAFTA through if the deal had not been handed off to his Administration? Would he have forced welfare recepients to work or gotten the budget under control if he didn't think it politically expedient to co-opt those Republican goals?
Now comes young Albert, who has learned at the feet of the master. The self-professed inventor of the Internet and the inspiration for Love Story (no slouch already in the piggyback department) has for months been denouncing the $1.3 trillion tax cut that George W. Bush cheekily put forth last year. Now Vice-President Gore has himself just proposed a $500 billion reduction that, like the Bush plan, would be spread over the next decade.
Behind Gore's monkey-see, monkey-do largesse is a forecast that the federal budget surplus during that period might go as high as $3 trillion. Of course, the fact that Gore's attacks on Bush were going nowhere and that New Economy, suburban swing voters might actually be kind of keen on a tax cut had nothing to do with the Veep almost doubling his earlier proposals.
WHOSE "BIG IDEAS"?
Gore's announcement came during week one of his "Progress and Prosperity" tour, designed to better connect him to the incredible expansion that, thanks to GOP policies, landed in the lap of the Clinton Administration. According to The Washington Post, "[Gore] says the unprecedented growth in the economy has given the nation the luxury of talking about 'big ideas.'" Would they be like the "big ideas" Bill Bradley often spoke of in his ill-fated primary campaign against Gore, or would they be Al's own "big ideas" that he decided to keep to himself until now?
Today, Gore is scheduled to lay out his plan to beef up Social Security by federally subsidizing investment accounts, most generously for low-income workers. This latest lurch comes after his repeated criticism of a initiative by Bush that would allow taxpayers to use a portion of their payroll taxes for private investment accounts. This was one of the "risky schemes" the Veep was so fond of calling Bush's proposals.
While the two proposals differ markedly -- the Gore investment account would be in addition to full benefits -- a pattern does seem to be emerging that's reminiscent of the policy pilfering by the Man from Hope. It's called Follow the Leader.
Scotti, senior editor for government and sports business, offers his unvarnished views every week, only for BW Online
EDITED BY DOUGLAS HARBRECHT
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