Clinton focuses on Asia to safeguard the U.S.

Clinton focuses on Asia to safeguard the U.S.

WASHINGTON (Reuters): President Bill Clinton has thrown
himself into the effort to contain Asia's financial crisis, which
may threaten the crowning achievement of his presidency -- the
robust U.S. economy.

U.S. officials provided an unusually detailed description of
Clinton's work on the crisis, saying he reads voraciously about
it, constantly fires off queries and receives a steady diet of
briefings from foreign policy and economic officials.

In talking about the president's efforts, the officials
appeared to be trying to ward off criticism Clinton did not do
enough to avert the crisis in the first place and that his
administration has mismanaged it since getting involved.

It also appeared to be part of a wider effort, including
Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers' visit to the region
this week and a speech by Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin on the
topic next week, to highlight the administration's work.

"The president's interest in this has been substantial," said
one senior U.S. official.

"He reads voraciously... and, almost every other day, I get
an article or something from him on the subject in which he's
either got a question or he's underlined something and said
'important issue,'" he added.

Clinton has telephoned his counterparts from Japan, Indonesia
and Singapore to discuss the turbulence in the financial markets
and to urge that the countries in the region make reforms to
right their economies.

The officials said Clinton gets a daily one-page market report
from Rubin, the former co-chairman of Wall Street powerhouse
Goldman Sachs and Co, as well as updates in his morning national
security intelligence briefing.

The administration has come under attack from the Republican-
controlled Congress, and even some members of Clinton's
Democratic party, who fear U.S. taxpayer dollars are being thrown
away in the financial bailouts.

The House of Representatives Banking Committee has summoned
Rubin, Summers and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to
testify on the turmoil on Jan. 30.

Much ire has also been directed at Clinton's proposal to give
the IMF nearly $19 billion to boost its resources, drained by the
bailouts for South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand.

White House attention has been riveted on the region, with
near daily meetings of officials from the State, Defense and
Treasury Departments, the National Security Council, Council of
Economic Advisers (CEA) and the vice president's office.

CEA chair Janet Yellen said she would not dispute private
estimates the Asian crisis may cut growth by 0.5 to 1.0
percentage points this year.

Officials went to lengths to portray Clinton as deeply engaged
in tracking the situation.

"We've been a little under the radar because putting too high
a profile on it has a market impact, so we have to be a little
cautious," said one official. "We use him to intervene when
necessary... but are a little bit oblique about it."

The official said the White House was not unduly concerned
about criticism. "So far... the fundamentals of the American
economy are so strong that it looks like we've got pretty good
anti-bodies when it comes to Asian flu," he added.

"We're confident that what we are doing is the right thing on
an issue that affects the interests of so many Americans," he
added. "We can weather a little criticism. When we've got someone
like Greenspan echoing Clinton's view, that doubles up the
comfort level."