But Harvard economist Douglas W. Elmendorf, who teaches a course on American economic policy, says Clinton's economic plan won't tax Americans enough.

"He has tax increases, but not as many as I would like. He also doesn't have as many spending cut-backs as I would like," says Elmendorf.

Elmendorf also criticizes Clinton's spending plan. Although he praises Clinton's planned reductions in defense and bureaucratic spending, Elmendorf says "the element missing is a serious reduction in benefit programs for retirees."

"All of the growth in the government in the last several decades has been in benefit programs, and mostly benefits for retirees like Social Security and Medicare," he says.

"If you want to restrain government spending, you have to cut [retiree benefits]," he says. "[Such reductions are] politically impossible but economically necessary. But he should try."

So far, it does seem politically impossible for Clinton to get his economic plans passed, as witnessed by the recent Republican filibuster of his $16 billion stimulus bill.

Yet Clinton's problems extend far beyond the Republican contingent in Congress, says King from the Kennedy School.

"It's [Clinton's] fault. If he couldn't see that coming, he's got a problem. And there were people in the Democratic Party warning him that it would happen, but it fell on deaf ears," King says.

Fiorina agrees with the assessment that Clinton's problems are largely self-generated.

"He has played right into Republican hands," Fiorina says. "He could have been more cautious, and the country would have given him more credit for it. Especially if he had admitted that the bigger issues like health care will take longer."

Jane H. Corlette, Harvard's acting vice president for government, community and public affairs, says she hopes Clinton unites Republicans and Democrats soon. But she says so far it looks like Clinton's term may show as much inter-party divisiveness as Reagan's or Bush's.

"Clinton has become much more partisan than during the election. I think this country needs to get its game together," Corlette says.

Health Care

Corlette says she worries about Clinton's pending health care policy, emphasizing the negative effects it might have on public health at Harvard.

"The things that we worry about in Clinton's health care reform are how medical education is going to be financed, if physicians' incomes are going to fall...how our medical students are going to pay back their substantial debts, and what kinds of controls the system puts on what kinds of doctors are produced," Corlette says.