rnubic3rx2's Journal

Jacques Chirac, who had just been elected...
Jacques Chirac, who had just been elected president of France, stopped by to see me on his way to CanadaChirac had warm feelings for AmericaAs a young man, he had spent time in our country, including a brief period working in a Howard Johnsons restaurant in BostonHe had an insatiable curiosity about a wide variety of issuesI liked him a lot, and liked the fact that his wife was also in politics, with a career of her own

Despite the good chemistry between us, our relationship had been somewhat strained by his decision to resume testing Frances nuclear weapons while I was trying to get worldwide support for a comprehensive nuclear test-ban treaty, a goal of every American President since EisenhowerAfter Chirac assured me that when the tests were completed he would support the treaty, we moved on to Bosnia, where he was inclined to be tougher on the Serbs than Mitterrand had beenHe and John Major were supporting the creation of a rapid reaction force to respond to attacks on UN peacekeepers, and I pledged Umilitary support to help them and the other UN forces get into and out of Bosnia if they and the regular peacekeepers had to be withdrawnBut I also told Chirac that if the force didnt work and the UN troops were forced out of Bosnia, we would have to lift the arms embargo

At the G-7, I had three objectives: to secure greater cooperation among the allies on terrorism, organized crime, and narco-trafficking; to identify major financial crises quickly and handle logo dolce & gabbana them better, with more timely and accurate information and with investments in developing nations to reduce poverty and promote environmentally responsible growth; and to resolve a serious trade dispute with Japan

The first two were easily achieved; the third was a real problemIn two and a half years, we had made progress with Japan, completing fifteen separate trade agreementsHowever, in the two years since Japan had pledged to open its markets to Uautomobiles and auto parts, the sector that accounted for more than half our total bilateral trade deficit, we had made almost no headway at allEighty percent of American dealerships sold Japanese cars; only 7 percent of Japanese dealerships sold cars from any other country, and rigid government regulation kept our parts out of Japans repair marketMickey Kantor had reached the limits of his patience and had recommended putting a 100 percent tariff on Japanese luxury carsIn a meeting with Prime Minister Murayama, I told him that because of our security relationship and the sluggish Japanese economy, the United States would continue to negotiate with Japan, but we had to have action soonBy the end of the month we had itJapan agreed that two hundred dealerships would offer Ucars immediately, and a thousand would do so within five years; that the regulations keeping our parts out would be changed; and that Japanese automakers would increase their production in the United States and use more American-made parts

During the hermes borse entire month of June, I was also embroiled in the unfolding battle with the Republicans over the budgetOn the first day of the month, I went to a farm in Billings, Montana, to highlight the differences between my approach to agriculture and that of the Republicans in CongressThe agricultural aid program had to be reauthorized in 1995, and therefore was part of the budget debateI told the farm families that while I favored a modest reduction in overall agricultural spending, the Republican plan cut assistance too sharply and did too little for family farmersFor several years, Republicans had done better than Democrats in rural America because they were more culturally conservative, but when push came to shove, the Republicans cared more about large agribusiness than family farmers

I also went horseback riding, mostly because I liked to ride and loved the broad sweep of the Montana landscape, but also because I wanted to show that I wasnt a cultural alien rural Americans couldnt supportAfter the farm event, my advance man, Mort Engleberg, had asked one of our hosts what he thought of meThe farmer replied, Hes all rightAnd he aint anything like they make him out to beI heard that a lot in 1995, and just hoped I wouldnt have to bring perception into line with reality one voter at a time

Our ride got interesting when one of my Secret Service agents fell off his horse; the agent was unhurt, but the horse took off like a rocket across the open rangeTo the amazement prada fairy bag of the press and the Montanans watching, my deputy chief of staff, Harold Ickes, rode off after the runaway steed at a blistering pace, chased him down, and returned him to his ownerHarolds exploit seemed totally at odds with his image as a high-strung, urban, liberal activistAs a young man, he had worked on ranches out west, and he hadnt forgotten how to ride

On June 5, Henry Cisneros and I unveiled a National Homeownership Strategy of one hundred things we were going to do to increase home ownership to two-thirds of the populationThe big decline in the deficit had kept mortgage rates low even as the economy picked up, and in a couple of years, we would reach Henrys goal for the first time in American history

At the end of the first week of June, I vetoed my first bill, the $16 billion GOP rescission package, because it cut too much out of education, national service, and the environment, while leaving untouched unnecessary highway demonstration projects, courthouses, and other federal buildings that were pet projects of Republican membersThey may have hated government in general, but, like most incumbents, they still wanted to spend themselves to reelectionI offered to work with the Republicans to cut even more spending, but said it would have to come out of pork-barrel projects and other nonessential spending, not investments in our children and our futureA couple of days later, I had another reason to fight for those investments, as Hillarys brother Tony and chanel top his wife, Nicole, gave us a new nephewZachary Boxer Rodham

I was still trying to find the right balance between confrontation and accommodation when I went to Claremont, New Hampshire, for a town meeting with Speaker GingrichI had said I thought it would be good for Newt to talk to people in New Hampshire as I had in 1992, and he took me up on itWe both made positive opening comments about the need for honest debate and cooperation rather than the kind of name-calling sound bites that make the evening newsGingrich even joked that he had followed my campaign example by stopping at a Dunkin Donuts shop on the way to the meeting

In the course of answering questions from citizens, we agreed to work together for campaign finance reform, even shaking hands on it; talked about other areas where we saw eye to eye; had an interesting, civilized disagreement about health care; and disagreed about the utility of the United Nations and whether Congress should fund AmeriCorps

The discussion with Gingrich was well received in a country weary of partisan warfareTwo of my Secret Service agents, who almost never said anything to me about politics, told me how glad they were to see the two of us in a positive discussionThe next day, at the White House Conference on Small Business, several Republicans said the same thingIf we could have continued in the same vein, I believe the Speaker and I could have resolved most of our differences in a way that would have been good for cartier tank watch Amer