Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.comment From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Political compass charts a cautious course Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 15:30:30 EST Message-ID: \SE F;COMMENTARY \SS (WS) \HD Political compass charts a cautious course \SH Taking the helm \BY Christopher Matthews While the country gabs about gays in the military, its next president plots a historic political coup that warrants at least as much attention. His handling of staff, the transition and the Congress suggests a president-elect who intends not just to reign as president but to rule. With deliberate action and soft-spoken explanation, Democrat Bill Clinton has moved to grab and consolidate power like no chief executive since Lyndon Baines Johnson. * Staffing. Unlike Ronald Reagan, the Arkansas Democrat rejects the notion of a strong White House chief of staff. Starting Jan. 20, there will be no Donald Regan or Jim Baker or John Sununu snapping orders from his well-appointed West Wing office. Mr. Clinton himself will be the chief executive officer of the Clinton presidency. A powerful illustration is found in the president-elect's handling of campaign chairman Mickey Kantor. When Mr. Kantor presented the winning candidate with a ready-to-use transition plan, Mr. Clinton balked. Instead of meekly checking off the plan, he took personal control of events by shifting power of the transition operation to another set of advisers, Warren Christopher and Vernon Jordan. He kept the bottom-line authority in his own hands. Who is going to be making the decisions over Clinton personnel and policy? "I am," he said. Message: Remember when two of Ronald Reagan's top lieutenants met and decided to swap positions? Remember how Treasury Secretary Don Regan and Chief of Staff Jim Baker decided they would each like the other guy's job, then presented the deal as a fait accompli to the man America had just re-elected as its president? Don't expect shenanigans like this under boss Bill Clinton. Don't expect to see "indispensable" staff lieutenants get away with brazen disloyalty, as Budget Director David Stockman once did with Ronald Reagan. Under Clinton government, only one executive branch employee will be essential: him. * Cabinet. Unlike Jimmy Carter, the president-elect has also made clear he rejects any go-it-alone behavior by Cabinet officials. Under his administration, Clinton appointees will be placed throughout the executive branch. The next president will appoint not just the Cabinet secretary but Cabinet undersecretaries and assistant secretaries. He will have Clinton people stationed at all the key switch boxes. He will have people personally loyal to him ensuring that every agency of government is a Clinton agency. * Congress. Unlike George Bush, the president-elect has ambitions that reach beyond the executive branch itself. Mr. Clinton's goal on Capitol Hill is not an uneasy peace but a recognized hegemony. Note the travel pattern of the past week. Before the president-elect flew to Washington, his Democratic lieutenants (Speaker Tom Foley, House Majority leader Dick Gephardt, and Senate leader George Mitchell) flew to Little Rock. The protocol was instructive. The mountain - in this case, the Hill - came to Mohammed. To highlight his hegemony, the Great Mentioner continues to list such congressional names as Lloyd Bentsen, Bill Bradley, even Speaker Tom Foley for the Clinton Cabinet. What better way to show who's boss than to show the president-elect's cherry picker hovering above Capitol Hill? Such maneuverings did not occur by chance. Mr. Clinton is a planner. He comes to his current mission, taking power in Washington, as well-prepared as he did his last. Just as he won the White House by mastering the campaign mistakes of Michael Dukakis, he has equipped himself for vast presidential power by studying the weaknesses of his soon-to-be predecessors. He does not intend to mimic them. As Speaker Tom Foley said on "Larry King Live" the other night, Bill Clinton is "comfortable with the idea that the president ought to be at the center of the American political system." You bet he is. Christopher Matthews, Washington bureau chief for the San Francisco Examiner, is a nationally syndicated columnist. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM