From: "Jim Kennedy" To: "Jim Kennedy" Subject: WJC Mail: Idea Man Date: Mon, 16 Dec 2002 19:53:10 +0000 washIngtonpost.com Still the Idea Man By David S. Broder Sunday, December 15, 2002; Page B07 When I finally got around to reading the policy speech that former president Bill Clinton gave in New York this month, it came as something of a surprise. The news coverage focused on his statement that Democrats were "missing in action on national security" issues during the midterm election and must fight to reclaim that territory from President Bush and the Republicans to have any chance to win in 2004. The irresistible Clinton sound bite was this: "We [Democrats] have got to be strong. When we look weak in a time where people feel insecure, we lose. When people feel uncertain, they'd rather have somebody who's strong and wrong than somebody who's weak and right." While savoring that little aphorism, reporters passed over big parts of Clinton's characteristically sprawling address to the Democratic Leadership Council, one he said he was reading from "handwritten notes . . . I wrote out this morning after coming back late from Mexico last night." But it's worth wading through. What made Clinton's reputation as the most successful Democratic politician of his generation -- the only Democrat to win two terms as president since FDR -- was mainly his record in domestic policy. And for this reader, at least, it is the economic and social policy sections of the speech that compel attention from his party. Whether offering original ideas or repackaging others' proposals, Clinton continues to challenge conventional wisdom. For example: In the last campaign, Democrats saw their share of the senior citizen vote continue to decline, despite all their scare talk that Republican plans to "privatize" Social Security would destroy the most important part of that safety net. Clinton bluntly says Democrats should stop defending the status quo and instead conside