PRESIDENT Clinton last night laid the foundations for his reelection campaign by delivering a conciliatory State of the Union speech in which he called for a reduction of "big government" and a bipartisan approach to the nation's problems.
Addressing members of the Senate and House, Supreme Court judges and diplomats in the last annual State of the Union message of his term, Mr Clinton challenged his political foes to "finish the job" and balance the budget, and agree to "never ever" shut the federal government again.
The President's set piece address was overshadowed by the Whitewater affair in the latest twist, Mrs Hillary Rodham Clinton has been subpoenaed to (testify on Friday before a grand jury investigating the couple's financial dealings.
The First Lady arrived in the House gallery wearing a blue tartan suit and grinning defiantly. She was greeted with the customary cheers, and was given a standing ovation when the president paid tribute to her from the podium as "a wonderful wife, a magnificent mother, and a great First Lady".
The President received good news yesterday in the shape of a "New York Times/CBS poll, which showed that his overall job ratings remain fairly steady at 47 per cent, and that he would beat his likely Republican rival, Senator Bob Dole, by 51 to 40 per cent if the presidential election were held now.
This reflects a growing sense that Mr Clinton is a necessary check on the extremism of Republicans in Congress, who get most of the blame for the current budget crisis, analysts say.
Support for the President's performance in his own party has meantime risen to an all time high of 79 per cent, as Democrats see him holding the line against Republican attacks on the "New Deal" social security net.
The President, speaking in hiss speech on international affairs, made the case strongly that the United States must not retreat into isolationism. He cited Bosnia and Northern Ireland as areas where America could made a difference.
"The state of the Union is strong, but it can be stronger,"
he said. "Our economy is the healthiest it has been in three decades, we have the lowest combined rates of unemployment and inflation in 27 years, we have created nearly 8 million new jobs.
America is selling more care than Japan for the first time since the 1970s," Mr Clinton said.
But while Americans were living better too many citizens were working harder to keep up. They should work to restore values and "meet these challenges together".
Mr Clinton drew ironic cheers from Republicans when he said "The era of big government is over", but drew Democratic roars of approval when he added "we should not go back to the time when our citizens were left to fend for themselves."
The President gave only a cursory greeting when making his way to the podium to the chairman of the Whitewater Committee, Senator Alfonse D'Amato of New York.
Senator D'Amato has cot yet decided whether to summon Mrs Clinton to answer charges of cover up in the Whitewater affair. The First Lady and several White House aides were however subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury also investigating Whitewater by independent counsel Kenneth Starr.
Mr Starr is believed to have taken this unprecedented action no First Lady has ever had to answer character charges before a grand jury before to show his anger at the lengthy WhiteHouse delay in finding Mrs Clinton's Rose law firm billing records, which were subpoenaed two years previously.
The documents, detailing legal work that Mrs Clinton did for the failed Madison savings and loan bank in Little Rock, Arkansas, were found in August by Ms Carolyn Huber, a White House aide who is responsible for filing the Clintons' personal documents.
She testified last week that they were lying on a table in the White House book room which is used principally by the Clintons and family guests. Ms Huber filed them away in a box in her office, then realised only last month what they were and produced them for the special counsel.
The Clintons had said all along that they did not know where the documents were, and their sudden appearance in the book room has created an atmosphere of mystery and deception over the affair.
The White House portrayed Mrs Clinton's appearance before the grand jury as part of her commitment to clear up any questions.
Yesterday's poll showed that while Mrs Clinton's approval rating had dropped to 40 per cent, many people are sympathetic to her because of the tough treatment she is getting. Some 78 per cent of those polled said that the Republicans were pursuing her for partisan political gain.