Under Newt management.

• Author: Grandy, Fred
• Position: Bipartisan leadership in Congress

Two years ago, I sat on the temporary scaffolding erected behind the Capitol's West Wing and listened to our new president deliver his inaugural address. Bill Clinton's speech was predictably hopeful and uncharacteristically short, and I can recall feigning polite attention while I replayed in my mind all the events that had conspired toward the Republican loss the previous November. Just how George Bush had so decisively snatched defeat from the jaws of victory still eluded me. But as I watched the eager faces of my Democratic colleagues craning to hear every word from their triumphant leader's lips, I was sure of one thing: After waiting 12 years to recapture the White House, Clinton and his Democratic team were not about to screw up the way the Republicans had.

So for the rest of the ceremony I just sulked. Then as the members were filing off the platform, I turned to Lou Stokes, a Democrat from Ohio, and said, "Congratulations, Lou, it's your deficit now." This was a flippant crack mostly intended to mask my bitterness, but now, two short years later, it is the Democrats who are wise-cracking under their breath while the Republicans carefully attend their new leader. Although the roles have reversed since 1992, the dirty little secret behind victory remains the same: Namely, that the party that takes over usually inherits more problems than perquisites. In other words, congratulations, gang, it's our deficit again.

There is also, of course, a much stronger undercurrent of cynicism in the electorate in 1994 than in 1992. And because the magnitude of the Republican victory was so unexpected, the surprise element has riveted the nation's attention on this new Congress and raised everyone's expectations. Because of this, Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole probably have a greater symbolic significance than merely being the new co-captains of the legislative branch. They are more accurately the president and prime minister of a parallel government elected by the American people, not just to check the moves of the Clinton administration, but to advance a counter-agenda (the Contract With America) and be quick about it. As president, Clinton barely enjoyed a honeymoon before the public fell out of love with him. Gingrich will be lucky to get a conjugal visit.

In plotting the Republican junta, Gingrich realized that for revolutions to succeed, you still have to make the trains run on time after you blow up the depot. And so far the occupation appears to be as successful as the uprising. A transitional...