PANETTA'S ON THE CASE
Leon Panetta is wasting no time in trying to yank President Clinton's legislative agenda out of the gutter lane. In his first 24 hours as White House chief of staff, the former budget director and congressional powerhouse held cloakroom negotiations with Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan on Clinton's troubled health care package, went on TV to pooh-pooh a weekend poll showing sinking approval ratings, then staged a lunch for 40 reporters to push Clinton's well-received crime and welfare reform bills. TIME White House correspondent Michael Duffy says Panetta is moving quickly to clarify the stakes for the president this year. "If they can deliver on health care and crime and the GATT agreement, they believe they will do well in the fall elections." And if they fail? "The wheels will come off the presidency."
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