Bill Clinton has outfoxed the Republicans again. Although Clinton’s presidency will not amount to much in the grand scheme of the history of the republic, there’s no question that he will be remembered for his uncanny ability to provoke the Republicans into self-immolation. And while his detractors have always assailed him as selfish, undisciplined, and self-indulgent, his final act of political heroism in the last days of his presidency represent self-sacrifice of Sidney Carton proportions.

Of course, not many people have recognized Clinton’s final behavior as such, which is part of the reason why Clinton is generally hailed as the most gifted politician of his time.

As everyone knows, Clinton spent his final days in office pardoning a sleazebag financier and loading up truckloads of knickknacks to furnish his place in Westchester. He even pardoned some guy who sold a phony baldness remedy at the behest of his brother-in-law, who was influence-peddling on a commission basis. Less perspicacious observers assumed this was just further proof of Clinton’s fecklessness. Certainly, the Republicans took it as proof of what they’d been saying all along. The fools.

The Republicans, of course, are missing something. For the first time in nearly a half-century, they have control of the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. (They also have control of the Supreme Court, although everyone involved feels compelled to deny the obvious.) The last time the Republicans found themselves in such a position, they squandered it by letting Wisconsin Sen. Joe McCarthy’s demagogy distract them from their central purpose.

This time, they appear on the verge of doing it again. George W. Bush has come into the White House with a tightly focused agenda to display compassion by rescuing the wealthy from the depredations of paying their share of taxes. He’s also giving lip service to some other stuff, such as education and military spending, but nobody should take any of that too seriously. Bush certainly doesn’t.

He has been promoting his agenda assiduously, trying to get public support for his plan at the moment of maximum leverage. Indeed, if historical trends hold, it could be his only window. Almost invariably, the party in the White House has lost ground in the first mid-term election. Given the razor-thin margins in Congress, it’s difficult to imagine Republican losses that don’t turn over Congress to the Democrats after the 2002 election.

So, knowing how little leverage the Republicans have, Clinton cleverly has outmaneuvered them again. To protect the country from the Republicans, Clinton sacrificed his reputation. It’s sort of like the old Halloween prank in which tricksters would douse a pile of doggie excrement with lighter fluid, touch it off, ring the doorbell, and flee. The unsuspecting homeowner would come to the door, see the small fire on his doorstep, and stomp it out, unaware of just what he was putting his foot into.

By allowing his reputation to be besmirched like that, Clinton was merely sucking the Republicans into his trap. Now, instead of focusing on saving Bill Gates from excessive taxation, the Republicans are shifting again into their self-destructive anti-Clinton mode. The negative consequences are all there. The honeymoon message is being diluted. The twin malignancies—Dan Burton and Bob Barr—are holding hearings. Sen. Arlen Specter is even talking about having another impeachment. We all know how far that got the Republicans last time around. We know how popular that made them with non-fanatical, casual voters.

In addition, Clinton’s actions gave various Democrats the opportunity to get right with history. For the last few years, they’ve felt obligated to stand by Clinton on his various personal peccadilloes because they needed him to advance their policy agenda. Now that he has little use in that regard, they can start badmouthing him to restore their own reputations for integrity. As anyone can see, the level of Clinton’s brilliance and unselfishness is astounding.

Moreover, Clinton has been crowding Bush off the front page as he tries to tell his story on taxes. Several studies have already found that Clinton is getting a grossly disproportional share of the evening news and the front pages of the elite newspapers. While this has given Bush some breathing room to extend the honeymoon, it also has diminished his ability to sell his tax cut, which is starting to have some political problems.

But Bush still may get at least some of his tax plan. Passing a tax cut, after all, is not exactly a difficult thing to do. The annals of history do not include long lists of legislators voted from office for having sought to reduce taxes. Indeed, to cynical observers of Congress, the wonder is that lawmakers are able to control their pandering impulses sufficiently to keep from eliminating taxes entirely.

In the hearts of leaders, government fiscal policy is always a life-and-death struggle between responsible management and the easy pursuit of popularity. This is not to say that reducing taxes is always an act of irresponsibility. Given the current projections for surpluses, a reasonable case can now be made for a tax cut, although prudence would indicate that paying down some of the debt from the years when the country lived far beyond its means first wouldn’t be a bad policy either.

The secondary struggle in any battle over government generosity is about who benefits. Al Gore focused his presidential campaign on the disproportionate benefit that Bush’s plan offered for higher-income taxpayers. By and large, the voters seemed to accept that argument since they gave Gore the edge in the vote. But when it comes down to practical matters, Americans tend to be amazingly free of resentment. Faced with the analogy Democrats are offering—that the tax cut for higher earners is equal to a Lexus, while the average taxpayer gets the equivalent of a new muffler—the typical American will say, “When do I get my new muffler?”

Given the Republican ardor to take care of the rich, a tax reduction is probably coming. The Democratic leadership probably will succeed in lowering the total number from the $2.2 trillion price tag that the Bush plan represents. (He still claims it’s $1.3 trillion, safe in the knowledge learned from the campaign that he can get away with any lies so long as they involve numbers.) But there are plenty of Democrats who will decide it’s easier to get on the bandwagon and take credit for doing the easy thing, regardless of its consequences for the country.

Typically, such a Democrat would fit the following profile: lacking in intellectual substance; a craven panderer to easy popular preferences; without guiding principles for determining the good of the country; and having no grip on substantive economic policy. To benchmark the level of success of the Bush tax effort, Ronald Reagan sought a 30-percent tax reduction (over three years) when he took office in 1981. He succeeded in getting a 25-percent reduction, even though Democrats firmly controlled the House of Representatives at the time.

Given his advantages, Bush ought to do better than Reagan’s 83-percent success level. But the real question at this point is whether the Republicans will keep their eyes on the ball sufficiently well to maximize their opportunity on taxes and to translate it into enduring popularity. Bush is trying to stay on message. The gang in Congress is having a much tougher time. And once again, Clinton may get the last laugh.