BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
In his January 27 State of the Union address, U.S. president William Clinton outlined plans to continue on the course he's maintained since his election to the U.S. presidency: deeper attacks on the social wage of working people and willingness to use Washington's military might abroad to advance the interests of the U.S. wealthy class. The president presented his speech under the storm cloud of a sex scandal that is threatening his career.

Asserting Washington's role as chief imperialist cop, Clinton declared, "We must also confront the new hazards of chemical and biological weapons and the outlaw states, terrorists, and organized criminals seeking to acquire them." Threatening military action against Iraq, he said, "Saddam Hussein, you cannot defy the will of the world."

Clinton also called for extending the U.S. occupation force in Bosnia indefinitely and for Congressional approval of the expansion the NATO military alliance. "Bosnia's fragile peace still needs the support of American and allied troops when the current NATO mission ends in June," he stated. These proposals highlight the determination of the U.S. rulers to overthrow the workers states in Russia and Eastern Europe and restore the system of wage slavery there.

On other foreign policy questions, Clinton reiterated his request that $18 billion from the government's $40 billion Exchange Stabilization Fund be allocated for International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan arrangements. This allows the president to provide direct loans to other governments without Congressional approval. Washington used such "bailout" loans following the collapse of the Mexican peso at the end of 1994 to deepen the penetration of U.S. capital in Mexico. Since then U.S. capitalists have bought up a larger portion of the banks, railways, and other national patrimony of Mexico, while conditions for working people there have gotten worse.

A similar process is beginning today in Asia. The government of Indonesia, which received a $40 billion IMF "rescue package" in October, announced a three-month "temporary pause" on interest payments on loans made to Indonesian companies. Most companies had already stopped making payments, as the currency, the rupiah, has dropped in value by nearly 80 percent since last July. The IMF "bailout" loans imposed by Washington are arranged to assure repayment to capitalist investors.

Attacks on social entitlements
Laying the political ground for deeper inroads against social entitlements, Clinton again spoke of the need to "fix" Social Security before it becomes "technically insolvent." The president called for a "White House conference" on this topic in December. He repeated the proposal to allow U.S. citizens between the ages of 55 and 65 to "buy into the Medicare system." Under this plan laid-off workers age 55 or older would pay $400 a month for the health benefits. Medicare recipients between the ages of 62 and 64 would pay $300 a month for coverage, and when they became eligible, they would have to pay $10-$20 a month above the usual premium for health services, which is now $43.80 a month.

Clinton also bragged that 2 million people were kicked off welfare in 1997. "We ended the old welfare system," he declared, referring to the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. That law abolished the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, part of the 1935 Social Security Act, affecting most of the 13 million workers and farmers receiving welfare and the 25 million people receiving food stamps.

He also pressed for a deeper assault on the democratic rights of young people proposing a "juvenile crime bill," putting 100,000 more cops on street; and hiring 1,000 border police. The government has sharply increased the number of executions since Clinton took office in 1993. More than half of the 434 executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 occurred during Clinton's term - 244 people.

Meanwhile, Clinton has been embroiled in a crisis that threatens his career. The day before he geared up for his message to the nation, he denied that he had an affair with Monica Lewinsky, who was 21 when she started as a White House intern in 1995. He also denied charges that he urged Lewinsky to lie about their relationship.

The controversy around Lewinsky exploded into the public when the charges were printed in the January 21 Washington Post. That same day Clinton appeared on "PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer asserting, "there is not an a sexual relationship, an improper sexual relationship, or any other kind of improper relationship." He also said he "did not urge anyone to say anything that was untrue."

Some ruling-class figures are openly discussing impeachment of the president. "What do we do with a President whose character is impeached," asked liberal New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman January 27. Friedman said Clinton is so "personally discredited" that his policies are "difficult to sell or sustain." Ultrarightist politician Patrick Buchanan denounced Clinton and the "moral standards of the party he heads." Clinton's "moral authority is diminishing," Buchanan asserted. "And it is hard to see how [this deterioration] is even going to be interrupted, short of a war with Iraq."

George Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton adviser turned television commentator, openly speculated about the possibility that the president might be forced to resign.  
 
 
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