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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1981)
Viewpoint The Battalion Texas A&M University Monday January 26, 1980 i Slouch By Jim Earle “Do you realize that this all started with pre-season practice last summer, then came the regular season, then the post season play-offs, and now the Super Bowl? Could we pledge to each other that we will not even mention the word ‘football’ for a whiter Taking charge literally as well as nominally By DAVID S. BRODER WASHINGTON — It will help President Reagan get off on the right foot if he remembers where he was a year ago. It will help him under stand that the first imperative for the success of his presidency is to demonstrate that he intends to be the master of his own mandate and his own administration. On Jan. 21, 1980, Reagan lost the Iowa cau cuses to George Bush. He lost because he heeded the advice of his then-campaign mana ger John P. Sears that he limit his commitment of time and energy in the state and trim his participation in its political process. The goal was to spare Reagan, but the effect was to create a vacuum which the hard-charging Bush was only too happy to fill. It was only after the unnecessary Iowa loss, when Reagan asserted control of his own orga nization and made the personal decision to cam paign unstintingly in New Hampshire, that his fortunes recovered. The lesson he needs to draw is that in govern ment, as in every other kind of politics, there is no substitute for the man in charge taking charge. As the excellent report of the National Academy of Public Administration panel on “A Presidency for the ’80s” put it, “What counts in the long run is how well he (the President) manages the processes of politics.” That observation applies with special force to Reagan. He carries over from his four decades in show business a tendency to prefer the role of actor to producer; he would rather read the speech than get the show on the road. His fault is not that he delegates authority, but that he tends to be overly deferential to his delegatees. That has caused him trouble in the past and it will cause him more trouble in the future — unless he can change the pattern. His awe of Sears was such that he not only let the manager’s caution override his own com petitive instincts and bring defeat in Iowa, but he let the same gentleman drive several of Reagan’s own most trusted and tested lieute nants out of the campaign organization. The costs became so high that Reagan himself was finally forced to intervene by firing Sears on the day of the New Hampshire primary. A similar problem arose when Reagan dele gated to others the negotiations for a vice- presidential choice in Detroit. The Jerry Ford situation was on the way to becoming a worse fiasco than the Sears situation when Reagan himself put a stop to it and announced his mid night choice of Bush. Warped Circuitous logic in the MSC The haze surrounding the MSC Council’s reorganization proposal makes a real evaluation impossible for someone who is not afflicted with the myopic insight of a C-rat. The power of the reorganization committee and the Council to illuminate the issue seems comparable to the glow of a match in Mammoth Cave. The reasons for adopting the proposal range from some which are characterized by pure logic, to others which are circular, redundant and even ridiculous. The best argument for the reorganization is that, through establishing six vice presidencies to categorize and distribute the work, it plans for the future and removes the burden inflicted on the officers by the present structure. That argument, unfortunately, is about the only good thing that can be said for the plan. Reorganization proponents are adamant in stressing this virtue of the plan; but it’s here their farsightedness ends and the myopia be gins. The compartmentalization and efficiency of the plan is one of its major assets. It’s also one of its major drawbacks. By stressing the need for covering all areas, the reorganization committee has forsaken fle xibility for straitjacket control. The plan leaves plenty of room to expand, but no room to grow. Job descriptions have been written with a Sidebars By Dillard Stone thoroughness that would please any corporate organization man. Even though Council offi cials acknowledge that there’s not enough work to merit 24 positions now — arguing that the MSC’s needs will grow to fill 24 jobs in five years or so — the reorganization calls for 24 council officers with very narrow job descrip tions. There is no flexibility in the plan. Then there’s the circular logic of President Ernen Haby: The plan is needed, he says, to identify needs within the MSC. He adds: “Identifying needs will help design workloads for specific positions.” In other words, the plan is needed to relieve the strain on the present officer structure; by adopting the plan, needs can be identified; then we can figure out what everyone is supposed to do; after that, we can implement the plan. In short, we need the plan so we can adopt the plan. Even finding out how many people new will be doing the work of how many old people is a chore in itself. I doubt there’s anyone involved who can give you an answer that will jibe with any other person’s. According to one MSC official, therej officers in the current structure. AnotlieiL re( nine, and still another gives a figureo(2lE a Others don’t know how many officerstl rill be going to — the positions on the chartal to 24, but somehow or another one sow 25. But the most ridiculous argumentofali J, one which surfaces with a frequency wticl . nc e lies the fact that its source is a group ofedii college students: “How dare we taketliti ^ i i. m long work of the reorganization committer throw it out?” The purpose of forming an advisorycoi Hot tee to study a reorganization is so the an ea P s of the whole can study and review therai ™ tee’s work prior to a final approval. There’s no reason to make the comi advisory in nature if you’re going ton stamp its actions. The basic structure of the proposal h It makes sense to divide the MSC’s worl six areas, each responsible to a vice pm It’s the profusion of detail, the limitii ture of the expanded structure and the lying feeling that Council members dont know what they’re talking about, mands the defeat of the measure. lie a Again, it was only by belatedly invoking his own instincts that Reagan ended the protracted argument among his deputies on the wisdom of his debating Jimmy Carter — and, by trusting his own abilities, brought about the event in Cleveland that, more than any other, triggered his landslide victory. The lesson in all this seems clear: When Reagan detaches himself from the management of his own crucial business and defers to others, he more often than not ends up awkwardly and belatedly intervening to save the situation. When he engages his talents fully from start to finish, he does well. Despite this history, the external evidence is that the senior transition aides — the men who succeeded John Sears — have spent a great deal of effort in constructing a White House and executive office structure whose implicit, un stated objective is to shield Ronald Reagan from the burden of running his own government. No President can be effective if he is so shielded, and Reagan has less reason than most to seek such a protective cocoon. This is his chance to show what he can do. Realistically, it is unlikely he will have either the ambition or energy to seek a second term at age 73. There is no point in the first term when his leverage — with Congress, the country, the bureaucracy, the interest groups and the press — is likely to be any greater than it is now. To put it in positive terms, I think Reagan today has earned for himself and his party the best opportunity in decades to break through the inertial forces in Washington and change policy in the direction the American voters want to go. But seizing that opportunity depends almost entirely on how much of himself Ronald Reagan is prepared to commit to the task. There is always a struggle to govern in Washington, and the new President has to commit himself fully to that struggle is he is to have a chance to win. Starting this morning, he has to make it clear — beyond any doubt — that he is in the fight for control of the agenda of government, heart and soul and body and mind, with every bit of strength and intellect, of will and skill he can apply. Anything he withholds from the struggle — anything he allow others to shield him from experiencing — he will come to regret. It is up to Ronald Reagan, more than anyone else, whether his presidency follows the shel tered, stumbling^pattern of Iowa and Detroit, or the engaged and triumphant path of New Hampshire and Cleveland. Sidestepping sent Jimmy back to Georgia Reagan needs to lay it on the line rams. By ARNOLD SAWISLAK United Press International WASHINGTON — Back when Ronald Reagan was a budding movie star, there was a radio program called Kaltenmeyer’s Kindergar ten on which the impressario would quiet the audience with the stern line: “After der moosic comes der shooshing.” That is how Kaltenmeyer told the kids it was time to settle down and get serious and that’s the time it is for the new president and his team. Without delay he needs to tell the country exactly what he is going to do about: 1) inflation, 2) taxes, 3) jobs and 4) government spending. That is not to say Reagan should have laid out his economic program in his inaugural address last week. That is not what such speeches are for and the president was right in using the occasion to try to state the general principles of and establish a tone for his administration. Wall Street apparently expected Reagan to get right down to business in the speech last Tuesday and when he didn’t went into a frenzy. But the denizens of that concrete canyon often behave like turkeys in a thunderstorm so the 20-point drop in the market probably can be written off as a passing fit of hysteria. But the new president did tell us last week that we “are confronted with an economic afflic tion of great proportions that threatens to shat ter the lives of millions of our citizens. ” Well, if that’s the way he sees it, and it is probable that the 7.8 million men and women who were out of work last month and auto work ers in Detroit who are on the verge of unem ployment agree, what is he going to do about it? Inasmuch as they have had more than two months since the election to prepare for assum ing power, Reagan and his people should have an economic plan ready to go. This really is not one of those situations as in foreign policy or military strategy where outsiders have to ac quaint themselves with secret information. The facts on the economy are and have been there for all to see and ponder. Absolutely vital to this process is the need for Reagan to explain to the American people ex actly what he plans to do to bring down prices, reduce unemployment, lower taxes and ba lance the budget. He certainly doesn’t have to claim that he is going to do all that instanl even simultaneously, but he does owe country a simple and clear explanation ol overall strategy. Jimmy Carter never did come right out explain his plan for dealing with inflation! other economic woes. It did become clear!I his administration’s plan was to let interestn 1 — the price of money — go so high that pe(( would have to stop buying house and cars,i slowing the economy and inflation. Because this plan entailed increasin; ployment and hurting business the Call administration never told the people w was doing. The people had to figure it o themselves and when they did Carter ticket back to Plains. “We ... have the capacity to do now. have had in the past to do whatever needs!!' done,” Reagan said last Tuesday. Nowit’sli for him to tell us what needs to be done. By Scott McCullar HOW 1 STENT MY CHRIST MAS VACATION • FT. 3 - THIS |S COMING DOW/V THE MOUNTAIN/ (MOSTLY 'CAUSE | COULDN'T TINP ANOTHER direct/on TRAVEt...) a'oticl all the ski TKACKS ON the SLOPES ? (l PRACTICE A LOT.) BEFORE | HIT the SLOPES 1 LEARNED HOW TO STOP PROPERLY (TO KELP FROM HITT/N9 THE SLOPES..) IN COLORADO, YOU KEEP THINKI NG YOU HEAR TO HA/ DENVER SORIGS A LOT.... 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