MISSOURI COMMENTARY; WHEN COMPROMISE IS STATESMANSHIP

Henry Clay was the Great Compromiser. He could strike a deal with most anyone. As he saw it, there was half way in between on most any issue, including the monumental question of slavery. He believed that the monumental question of conciliation would be The Compromise of 1850, in which, under his crafting, anti-slavery forces of John C. Calhoun. The compromise failed and the Civil War ensued.

President Bill Clinton is the great compromiser of our time. He has to be. Faced with a Republican Congress, he has no choice but to wheel and deal. The alternative is continuing gridlock, guaranteeing that, for the remaining years of his presidency, the country would be ruled by impasse. Clinton wanted not part of a Reagan-Bush budget stalemate.

The budget. Clinton thinks he won the battle of the budget. The Republicans believe they were the victors. Clinton has the better side of the politics of the budget; the Republicans have the better side on substance.

Clinton positions himself nationally as the moderate Democrat who is going to put our nation's fiscal house in order. The Republican House and Senate will have control of the details on spending and taxation. They can tilt both the spending and the tax cuts in a conservative direction. Clinton wins on the big picture basis; the Republicans win on the details.

The public is under the impression that the budget will be balanced by 2002. Absent a miracle, it will not be. the economy has to remain unerringly positive. The spending increase will come early and the spending cuts will come late.

The "backloading" of the budget cuts means that the cuts made in the next century will be cruel and unusual punishment of the poor and working poor. Congress sitting in 2001 and 2002 will have dreadful task. The urgent need to reform the budget for the profound impact of baby boomer retirees is left to future presidents and future Congresses.

Clinton truly enjoys dealing with his political adversaries. He can be a shrewd player of his political cards. He instinctively knows how to cut a deal -- just as Henry Clay did a century and a half ago. For the country's sake, hope Clinton succeeds where Clay failed.

The economy. Clinton has bragging rights on the economic picture as no other president. He has 12 million new jobs. We are the envy of all the other G-7 countries. The economy is Clinton's key to his place in history.

The New Democrat. Clinton has pulled the Democratic party to the center. He said he would and he delivered on his promise.

For all practical purposes, the Democratic Party before Clinton had for a generation forfeited the presidency to the Republicans. The center, up for grabs, was captured by the Republicans. On crime, welfare, taxes, the center tilts to the Democrats in Clinton's presidential races.

He changed the dialogue from "tax and spend" to "save and invest." Just as the Republicans over time had to reconcile themselves to Roosevelt's New Deal, so too the Democrats, under Clinton, have reconciled themselves to the Reagan changes.

Clinton the statesman. Clinton is the leader in expanding NATO, if indeed, over time, that is proven to be the wise way to go. He is the proponent of NAFTA. He is the zealous advocate of expanded world trade. He receives good marks for his work in Haiti and Bosnia -- on the latter, at least until next year when the troops are obliged to withdraw.

As one writer puts it, "With Clinton, there is always another deal. The dealing never stops. Today's enemy is tomorrow's ally, yesterday's concession is next week's quibble, and this month's commitment is next year's bargaining chip, or the next election's fund-raising ploy."

For a successful compromiser, there is always yet another compromise.

~Tom Eagleton of St. Louis is a former U.S. senator from Missouri.