The self-satisfied and arrogant tone that Clinton adopted in much of his address reflected the attitudes of the capitalist rulers he serves. They revel in the fruits of their decades-long assault on working people at home, and the economic and military edge they have opened over their rivals among the imperialist powers of Western Europe and Japan.

Clinton delivered his previous State of the Union speech in more precarious circumstances, in front of a Congress which was impeaching him after the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Clinton survived the impeachment, although he and the presidency emerged weakened.

Clinton spoke in defense of his record of military interventions abroad, and as the president who ended "welfare as we knew it."

He equated the long period of growth in the U.S. economy, which has lasted a record eight years and 11 months, with "prosperity." "We begin the new century with over 20 million new jobs. The fastest economic growth in more than 30 years, the lowest unemployment rates in 30 years." But even the commentators who claim that a downturn is unlikely note the signs of instability in the capitalist economy. "I can't see the end of this expansion," exulted economist Allen Sinai. He then conceded "there is more 'noise' around the edges now." More sober capitalist observers acknowledge that "a recession must come," as Luis Uchitelle wrote in the January 30 New York Times.

Working people have enjoyed little of the touted prosperity. The percentage of people living below the official poverty line in 1998 hs changed little since 1989. Real wages have barely risen in the last several years.

Clinton promised his capitalist masters that the government would maintain "fiscal discipline" and pay down the debt it owes to capitalist bondholders. He posed as a supporter of the wider provision of health and education services. "We must ensure that the benefits of debt reduction go to preserving two of the most important guarantees we make to every American—Social Security and Medicare," he stated. His proposals, though, pointed away from making medical care and schooling a right, free and available to all. Even his proposal to support "Vice President Al Gore's suggestion to make low income parents eligible for the insurance that covers their kids" would cover only one quarter of the "40 million Americans without health insurance."

"We ended welfare as we knew it," said Clinton. His administration's "welfare reform" cut off food stamps and Medicaid to many working people. Describing the "revival of the American spirit" in his speech, Clinton said that "welfare rolls [have been] cut in half to their lowest levels in 30 years." In 1999 up to 50 percent of those denied payments had no jobs, and most of the rest were doing make-work jobs paying minimum wage with no benefits. relatively low levels of joblessness in the present upturn—four percent compared to over 11 percent in 1982— mask the impact of the welfare cuts. Those reductions in the social wage mean that wide layers of working people will be exposed to the impact of the serious downturn that sooner or later will come.

Acknowledging that droughts, floods, and historically low prices have made times very bad" for family farmers, Clinton offered no relief for this devastating crisis.

"Globalization...is the central reality of our time," said Clinton windily as he turned to trade and foreign policy questions. As he had done in Seattle during the conference of the World Trade Organization held in December of last year, he cynically used themes of respecting labor and human rights—opposing a "race to the bottom on the environment and worker protection"—as cover for imposing protectionist barriers against imports from third world countries and workers states.

Clinton defended the military interventions that Washington has organized during his 7 years in office. In the air war mounted by NATO against Yugoslavia in 1999, "we prevailed without losing a single American in combat," said Clinton. United States military forces bombarded Serbian and Kosovan targets from a safe distance, paving the way for an imperialist intervention force to be stationed in Kosova, and establishing Washington's clear military predominance over its French, German, and other European allies.

The U.S. rulers fear the response of infantry, sailors, and working people at home when ground troops suffer heavy casualties.

"Russia and China...are being held back from reaching their full potential,"said Clinton, expressing frustration at the fact that despite a decade of announcements of market reforms, no capitalist class has stepped forward to seize and transform the Russian economy. He bemoaned Russia's "economic turmoil [and] a cruel and self-defeating war in Chechnya."

Clinton and other imperialist leaders have used Moscow's brutal invasion of Chechnya as a pretext to pressure and humiliate Moscow on the world stage.

Washington's stance toward Mosow has hardened as economic reforms have foundered. Clinton's proposal a year ago for a missile defense system designed to give the Pentagon a first-strike nuclear advantage, and other moves to tighten a military noose around the country, reflect this change. In his speech Clinton recycled the justification for this system by warning of military dangers from North Korea, Iran, and Iraq.

At the end of January, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Russia to try to pressure Moscow to agree to changes to the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, which at present bans the deployment of such a system. Moscow remains opposed to such changes.

Before Congress, Clinton defended the "agreement we negotiated to bring China into the WTO," and called on the House to pass "Permanent Normal Trade Relations as soon as possible this year"—a decision required by the agreement. This proposal will be fiercely debated in Congress later this year. "Our markets are already open to China," said Clinton. "This agreement will open China's markets to us."

Big business in this country at present sees considerably greater opportunities in China for investment and trade than in Russia. But the capitalist rulers remain deeply hostile to the Chinese workers state, and divide only over tactical questions in applying their hostility.

On February 1 House of Representatives voted to expand military ties between Taiwan and the United States. The move could increase tensions and jeopardize the trade agreement, warned Clinton. "It would bring about very serious damage to China-U.S. relations," said a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington. Beijing has also stated strong objections to Washington's antimissile defense system. Later this year Clinton will decide whether to deploy the system.

Vice President Albert Gore shared the stage with Clinton during his speech. Gore is the front-runner for the Democratic Party presidential nomination this year, and his principal rival is Sen. William Bradley. Their contest grew more acrimonious in the past weeks as Bradley published Gore's voting record on abortion legislation to back up his claim to be the more consistent pro-choice candidate.

The differences between the two most prominent Republican candidates are rhetorically sharper. Trying to undermine the campaign of George W. Bush, who has the backing of leaders in the party, Sen. John McCain has turned more consciously to populist demagogy. Playing on his record as a prisoner of war, McCain said on January 30 that he is "fully prepared to lead" as commander in chief. "I don't need on-the-job training," he said, in scornful reference to Bush.

Speaking in a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall McCain said, "We started our battle with the privates, the seamen, and the chief petty officers, they can have the generals and the admirals."

Republican candidates trade criticism of each other's proposals for tax cuts. McCain stung Bush with an unexpectedly comfortable victory in the New Hampshire primary in late January.  
 
 
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