LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The economic conference that President-elect Bill Clinton will convene here Monday is shaping up as a critical element in his drive to convince Americans that the economy still faces fundamental long-term problems despite recent signs of an upturn.
With economic indicators now suggesting the nation is emerging from the recession that helped propel Clinton into the White House, aides say the President-elect intends to use the two-day conference to highlight lingering long-term problems in the economy--and build support for the incoming Administration's agenda to deal with them.
"The No. 1 goal," said one aide, "is to educate the American people about the long-term structural problems we face and the steps we can take to alleviate those problems."
The session will gather 329 corporate executives, small-business owners, labor leaders, educators and economists at a downtown conference center here for 13 1/2 hours of televised sessions, mostly moderated by Clinton himself.
Those attending range from corporate chiefs such as John Sculley, chairman of Apple Computer, to community activists such as Brenda Shockley, executive director of Community Build in South-Central Los Angeles. Many of those invited were Clinton supporters during the campaign, but the list also contains several dozen Republicans such as Drew Lewis, chairman of the Business Roundtable and secretary of transportation in the Ronald Reagan Administration.
Clinton will be joined at each of the seven planned sessions by Vice President-elect Al Gore and the new Administration's top economic officials: Lloyd Bentsen, the Treasury secretary-designate; Leon E. Panetta, the incoming director of the Office of Management and Budget; Robert E. Rubin, Clinton's choice as director of the National Economic Council; Robert B. Reich, the incoming labor secretary; and Laura D'Andrea Tyson, who will chair the Council of Economic Advisers.
At each session, Clinton and his advisers will be joined around an oval table by a rotating group of 25 invited guests. The remaining guests will watch from nearby auditorium seats and ask questions at the end of each session.
The event will be broadcast in its entirety on C-SPAN and National Public Radio, with portions expected to be aired on Cable News Network and the other television networks. Aides say Clinton will even take call-in questions at three points in the sessions from NPR listeners.
