"The Democrats so far seem to be winning the political high ground," said an Enron briefing paper for Kenneth L. Lay, the company's chairman, in advance of an April 17, 2001, meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney. "What the Bush team needs to do is steal a page from the Clinton new economy playbook and to relegate the Democrats to the Carter 'eat your peas' playbook."
The White House must link the Democrats to "blackouts, waste, Luddites, regulation, government ownership, stagnation" while positioning Bush as the agent of "abundan[ce], efficiency, new economy, innovation, open markets," the document said.
