1076 ★ CHAPTER 27 From Triumph to Tragedy
minorities) with elements of conservatism (he pledged to reduce government
bureaucracy and, borrowing a page from Republicans, promised to “end wel-
fare as we know it”). A charismatic campaigner, Clinton conveyed sincere con-
cern for voters’ economic anxieties.
Bush, by contrast, seemed out of touch with the day- to- day lives of ordi-
nary Americans. On the wall of Democratic headquarters, Clinton’s campaign
director posted the slogan, “It’s the Economy, Stupid”—a reminder that the eco-
nomic downturn was the Democrats’ strongest card. Bush was further weak-
ened when conservative leader Pat Buchanan delivered a fiery televised speech
at the Republican national convention that declared cultural war against gays,
feminists, and supporters of abortion rights. This seemed to confirm the Demo-
cratic portrait of Republicans as intolerant and divisive.
A third candidate, the eccentric Texas billionaire Ross Perot, also entered
the fray. He attacked Bush and Clinton as lacking the economic know- how to
deal with the recession and the ever- increasing national debt. That millions of
Americans considered Perot a credible candidate— at one point, polls showed
him leading both Clinton and Bush— testified to widespread dissatisfaction
with the major parties. Perot’s support faded as election day approached, but
he still received 19 percent of the popular vote, the best result for a third-
party candidate since Theodore Roosevelt in 1912. Clinton won by a substan-
tial margin, a humiliating outcome for Bush, given his earlier popularity.
Clinton in Office
In his first two years in office, Clinton turned away from some of the social and
economic policies of the Reagan and Bush years. He appointed several blacks
and women to his cabinet, including Janet Reno, the first female attorney gen-
eral, and named two supporters of abortion rights, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and
Stephen Breyer, to the Supreme Court. He modified the military’s strict ban
on gay soldiers, instituting a “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy by which officers
would not seek out gays for dismissal from the armed forces. His first budget
raised taxes on the wealthy and significantly expanded the Earned Income Tax
Credit (EITC)—a cash payment for low- income workers begun during the Ford
administration. The most effective antipoverty policy since the Great Society,
the EITC raised more than 4 million Americans, half of them children, above
the poverty line during Clinton’s presidency.
Clinton shared his predecessor’s passion for free trade. Despite strong oppo-
sition from unions and environmentalists, he obtained congressional approval
in 1993 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a treaty nego-
tiated by Bush that created a free- trade zone consisting of Canada, Mexico, and
the United States.