Memo to Jim Baker

WELCOME BACK to your role as First Friend. The task ahead of you----saving the President's hide may not be as dangerous as bringing peace to Bosnia, but it's about as difficult. You know all about campaign nuts and bolts, and stroking the press. Herewith some advice where your chief most needs it: campaign themes.

Taxes. The only way to get out of this recession is to grow out of it, and we won't do that if the tax burden rises. The Democrats have promised to raise it, on "the rich." Make sure the voters know who "the rich" are, and how soon they are likely to be counted among them. But the President can't be merely negative on this issue; he carries a lot of negatives himself, thanks to the budget deal. He must argue the case--yes, the intellectual supply-side case for a policy of cutting marginal rates to stimulate the economy. And to show that he means what he says, push the capital-gains tax.

Health care. Both candidates have a health-care plan--if you need a refresher on yours, call Stuart Butler at Heritage--but the Democratic plan calls for payroll taxes. Bad for profit margins, bad for small businesses. What good is company health insurance if you don't have a job?

Clarence Thomas. A man of honor, savaged by an unholy alliance of civil-rights lobbyists and feminists. The President was right to appoint him, and brave to have stuck by him. Boast about it--this is an issue that divides black voters from both feminists and the civil-rights establishment. And as an encore, bring up Willie Horton for what he really is--namely, the symbol of liberal unwillingness to tackle crime if it happens to be black crime. Clinton will be expecting evasion and apologies on this. Remember Alan Keyes's line: "When I see Willie Horton, I see a criminal; when the Democrats see Willie Horton, they see a black." Hit Clinton hard enough on this, and he'll backpedal to last Wednesday.

Foreign policy. Quoting Clinton's pre-Desert Storm dithering at the Convention was a good idea, keep it up. But watch for Clinton to try outflanking the President on the right; he almost managed it on Bosnia. The solution: keep upping the ante against Saddam Hussein up to and beyond election. day. More generally, sketch out the great foreign-policy complex of the 1990s, namely the dangerous interaction between the spread of nuclear weapons and the spread of protectionism. This is a twofer: the President is strong on military action to halt nuclear proliferation, and Clinton is weak on protectionism. It means, as you once said of Desert Storm, "jobs, jobs, jobs." The alternative to a car built in Mexico and the United States is a car built in Japan and Thailand, or a car so expensive it won't be bought.

Abortion. Remember, "choice" sounds nice, but it's riddled with hard cases: minors getting an abortion without parental consent; parents selecting a child's sex by aborting girls; the grim total of 1.7 million abortions a year. Is that what Bill Clinton really wants? Who knows--but it's what he's committed to. If he denies it, ask him if there is any abortion he would prohibit by law. Then ask him again. And again. The answers will get progressively shiftier.

Gay rights. The Republican Party is against subsidizing non-traditional lifestyles. Some school districts-New York City, for instance--are assigning textbooks like Heather and Her Mommies (parenting for lesbians). Mr. Bush doesn't want to outlaw such arrangements, but he doesn't want to hold them up as ideals in public schools. If Democrats want to call that "gay-bashing," encourage them to do so.

School choice. This will rope in Roman Catholics and evangelicals the voters the media forget.

That should be enough to start with. Call us after the World Series, and let us know how it's going.

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