Clinton Defends Efforts to Spur Racial Dialogue

WASHINGTON — Flashing indignation, President Clinton on Tuesday sharply defended his efforts to help bridge the nation’s racial divide and said progress on the affirmative action issue is already being made in local experiments around the nation.

Speaking in a marathon 94-minute press conference, Clinton bridled at the suggestion that his own efforts to spur racial unity--a major priority of his second term--have amounted to a lot of talk with few apparent results.

“I think talking is better than fighting,” he said. He also pointed to integration successes in the military and new admission policies at Texas universities aimed at preventing the wholesale departure of minority students.

Fielding questions on a broad array of topics in the longest news conference of his presidency, Clinton also cautioned that he may not propose any tax cuts in his coming budget, even though the GOP-controlled Congress has earmarked tax reform as a top priority next year.

The president also indicated that unless Congress reforms the campaign finance laws, he has no intention of slowing his fund-raising efforts, despite the troubles the donation scandals have caused his administration this year.

But Clinton seemed most impassioned--and defensive--when addressing questions about affirmative action and his recent efforts to spark a nationwide dialogue about race.

Although Clinton generally seemed upbeat, his mood changed abruptly when a reporter suggested that his own lieutenants believe the race effort is a mess and that his town meeting in Akron, Ohio, earlier this month was “little more than presidential Oprah.”

Clinton interrupted the reporter, called his comments “editorial” and stressed that he believes people “loved” his town meeting.

His tone still testy, Clinton outlined policies he is pushing to back up the dialogue of his initiative, including a new effort to curtail housing discrimination and a program to encourage students to teach in low-income areas by offering them scholarships if they agree to do the teaching jobs after graduation.

But Clinton also stressed his belief in the importance of the dialogue itself.

“I believe when people don’t talk and communicate and understand, their fears, their ignorance and their problems are more likely to fester,” he said.

Clinton suggested that solutions to the national debate over affirmative action programs will not be found through ballot initiatives but through determined efforts to devise new ways to offer opportunities to minority groups without setting up quota systems.

“I honestly believe that it’s going to be difficult to finally resolve all this at the ballot box. It’s a question of which label wins,” Clinton said.

Clinton said he believes most Americans will support reasoned solutions for fulfilling the goal of affirmative action--to give those who need it a hand up.

“If you don’t like the way California used to admit people to its colleges and universities, what would you do to make sure that you didn’t exclude whole groups who happen to be predominantly of racial minorities . . . “ he asked.

One solution Clinton promoted is the plan passed by the Texas Legislature to dilute the impact of that state’s ballot initiative against affirmative action. The law requires public universities to admit the top 10% of every high school’s graduating class. For other applicants, universities can consider such race-neutral factors as their economic background or their parents’ educational level.

“We can get there if we’ll move beyond the slogans,” Clinton said.

On the subject of taxes, the president hinted that he has no plan to propose tax cuts next year, and he cautioned Americans against believing the talk of a budget surplus, which he said does not exist.

“This economy is the strongest it’s been in a generation because of the discipline that we’ve been able to bring to the task of bringing the deficit down and getting our house in order,” Clinton said. “We should not lightly abandon that discipline.”

While expressing general support for removing the so-called marriage penalty from the tax code, as some Republicans in Congress are proposing, he cautioned: “A lot of tax cuts might be desirable, but how would you pay for them?”

Ari Fleisher, spokesman for the House Ways and Means Committee, criticized the president for being “noncommittal” on tax cuts and said the GOP Congress would present him next year with a tax-relief package.

The president said he would consider proposals to simplify the tax code but that they would have to meet the high standards of being fair to all Americans, fiscally responsible and good for the economy.

A letter from 100 House Republicans dated Monday urged Clinton to outline a plan for simplifying the tax code in his State of the Union address next month.

On campaign finance, Clinton dodged a question about whether he would make more fund-raising phone calls over White House telephones. However, he made it clear that he continues to raise money in small groups of donors--a method that has provoked much criticism.

“I think the most effective thing for me to do when raising money is to meet with people in small groups. . . . I prefer that to just making phone calls,” Clinton said. “I also think it gives people who contribute to the Democratic Party the sense that they are part of an administration and part of a process that stands for some ideas. You’re not just calling people for money, you’re also listening to what they think should be done.”

Clinton reiterated his call for an overhaul of campaign finance laws, arguing. “The fundamental problem is not those that might have deliberately violated the law; the fundamental problem” is the current system, he said.

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), fifth-ranking in the House leadership, said he was astonished by the president’s assertion that the current law is the problem.

“When someone who has taken an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States states flatly that the problem is not those who deliberately violated the law--that is precisely the problem,” said Cox, vice chairman of the House panel probing fund-raising in the 1996 campaign.

And when a questioner alluded to a previous remark by a Chinese official that the United States should concern itself with the safety of Los Angeles more than with Taiwan, Clinton offered a few comments of sympathy and admiration for the city’s residents.

“Well, I know you don’t mean it that way, but the American president, of course, has to be concerned about the security of Los Angeles,” he said. “They’ve endured earthquakes and fires and now El Nino--and they just keep going on. They’re remarkable. So we’re worried about them, and we’ll be there for them.”

Times staff writer Jodi Wilgoren contributed to this story.

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Issues and Answers

In a wide-ranging news conference, his last of the year, President Clinton touched on:

ASIA: Says the U.S., “may need to do more” for troubled economies.

TAXES: Doesn’t foresee tax cuts but may favor simplifying the tax code.

RACE RELATIONS: Believes “we are on track” in promoting racial dialogue.

* On a lighter note, Clinton reveals name of his new puppy (see story in Life & Style, E4).