President Clinton did well to stick by his plan to deliver his State of the Union address this week in the middle of the impeachment trial against him. He made the most of the opportunity to assert his leadership role and to put forward several political proposals which take the initiative from his Republican opponents. He also demonstrated that he can talk effectively about the country's problems, lay out a political agenda and convince voters he has the strength to govern.
It has been yet another display of his ability to separate out different elements of his persona while remaining confident of public approval. According to the opinion polls, such approval has certainly been forthcoming and more than 20,000 people turned out yesterday to hear him defend his legislative proposals. They have attracted added attention because his biggest idea - to use forthcoming budgetary surpluses to fund the Social Security state pension system, including possible government investment in equities - has been opposed by Mr Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve on the grounds that it would unacceptably mix state and market.
Yesterday, too, his lawyers wound up their arguments rebutting the charges levelled against him in the impeachment proceedings. In coming days the Senate must decide whether to call witnesses or proceed to a quick vote on the charges levelled against him. There is no indication of a swing against him among the senators and those Republicans who want to prolong the proceedings are coming up increasingly against evidence of resistance among the voters.
Mr Clinton's legislative agenda is in keeping with the incremental nature of recent policy-making in the US, the political reality of a Republican-controlled Congress and the inevitable lame-duck speculation surrounding any president entering the second last year in office. The pension plan is by far the most ambitious, with Mr Clinton proposing that budget surpluses be devoted to funding the system rather than for tax cuts as the Republicans would prefer.
The plan puts his Republican opponents on the defensive. It will also find favour with the more radical wing of the Democratic Party, which has been critical in the past of the president's budget trimming. Other proposals - on child care, education, compensation for smokers from tobacco companies, job creation, minimum wages, health and crime - mainly continue work in progress, but also demonstrate that the president is capable of maintaining policy initiatives.
Mr Clinton is clearly determined to be remembered for something other than the impeachment proceedings. His domestic political record has been dominated by his capacity to manage effectively one of the longest post-war US economic booms. He had to abandon the last big domestic idea - health reform - after it was withdrawn, contributing to the Republican landslide in the 1994 congressional elections. It is a measure of his political confidence that he should have put forward such an ambitious plan at this late stage in his career and be able to back it up with such aplomb.