President Bill Clinton is trimming the fat and it is the first step in the right direction.

Compared to former President George Bush, Clinton has cut the administration by 350 employees. It seems that the first place for anyone to start cutting the fat is in one’s home and that is exactly what Clinton is doing.

Clinton also reduced salaries by 6 to 10 percent. This reduction shows even White House officials are willing to take a little less. In a time of economic strife, even a little thing such as officials taking less seems to lessen the load.

By showing America he is headstrong concerning the economy, he will rebuild his credibility. Credibility has been lost because of broken campaign promises and Clinton needed to do something to rebuild it.

Clinton is trying to put his economic recovery plan in action by trimming $10 million from the Pentagon budget. The defense budget has been offensive for many years now. And with other countries agreeing to reduce the number of weapons, reason tells us that the defense budget can be shaved a little.

Gen. Colin Powell might quit because he believes the defense cuts are too large. However, the amount Clinton is cutting is minuscule compared to the allotted defense budget total.

With the deficit so high, Clinton must keep his promise to lower it. It was economic recovery that was one of the main reasons Clinton’s address is now 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. If Clinton keeps going in the same direction, he might not have to fill out a change of address form.