Exactly one month after the House of Representatives voted to impeach him, President Bill Clinton stood before the same body last night and delivered a State of the Union address designed to appeal to all members of the political spectrum while at the same time signifying to his crucial liberal base that his loyalty remained with them.
This tight-wire act was performed in Clinton's typical highly stylized and well polished manner, offering something for everyone -- the only thing missing was an entirely active audience.
Republicans generally reserved their applause for key points with either a highly conservative or completely non-partisan nature and rarely rose to their feet. House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) remained noticeably stoic throughout the address.
On the other side of the aisle the Democrats seemed to be permanently standing, clapping strongly even on issues with only limited liberal support.
The difference was so apparent that after one of the few times almost everyone gave a standing ovation for Clinton's equal-pay for equal-work initiative, the president reacted extemporaneously saying the bipartisanship was encouraging. "I like that -- more balance on the see-saw."
Clinton reached out to the GOP on such issues as increased military spending, new standards for teachers and expanding free trade and to liberals with the patients' bill of rights, the Brady Bill, a $1 increase in the minimum wage, and the announcement of new tobacco litigation.
He needs support from both sides in the coming months -- liberals to remain behind him solidly in the impeachment fight and conservatives to keep his public approval ratings high enough to keep the pressure on conviction-leaning Republicans.
The president nearly matched issues one for one in an effort to keep this "see-saw" of support balanced, even if congressional reactions were not.
Clinton followed increased federal education mandates, a conservative taboo, with a call for an end to social promotion and for more charter schools -- favorite issues of Republicans.
He evened the score in terms of defense when he paired increased military spending, a conservative rallying issue, with the need to pay past United Nations dues, something the GOP has resisted.
In an effort to appeal to everyone, Clinton even tried creative names and phrases in order to make issues appear to be in a different ideological perspective than they really are.
He called a reduction in youth smoking the "safety of our children" to appease conservatives and named increased benefits for the elderly an easing of the burden on our youth -- always a popular group.
The only big item missing from the State of the Union buffet menu was tax cuts -- something the Republicans focused on in their response following the address.
The nearly compulsory First Lady recognition was transformed last night into an almost bizarre moment, with the entire chamber giving Hillary Clinton one of the longest standing ovations of the night.
With no direct mention of the Monica Lewinsky scandal or the president's impeachment woes, the awkward moment came at the end of his speech when Clinton looked glowingly up towards Hillary, bit his lower lip and said, "I honor her."
For Clinton, the speech achieved exactly what it needed to. It painted a glowing picture of the economy and the last six years of the Clinton administration to make the public happy and keep his job ratings high and then went to promise lists of new spending initiatives to sure up support further.
From new teachers to new police officers, from increased Medicare spending to increased social security set asides, from federal money to guard against the Y2K computer problem to Clinton's pet project AmeriCorps, this speech offered it all -- all in hopes for Democrats to stay in position and just enough Republican support to tip the Senate see-saw against conviction.
