A
The Battalion
VIE WPOINT
September 4,195
Slouch
By Jim Earle
“/ guess after all the time I changed my schedule, they were
pretty glad to see me go. ”
Meese denies he is
in charge on the hill
By HELEN THOMAS
United Press International
Presidential counselor Edwin Meese has a
lot of power in the White House, but he
says it’s “total fantasy” to believe he is in
command.
Meese’s decision not to awaken Presi
dent Reagan until six hours after American
aircraft shot down two Russian-made Li
byan jets in disputed Mediterranean waters
has been the subject of cartoons and critic
ism. He also has been jokingly refered to as
“President Meese.”
Meese is the first to laugh about it all.
His favorite cartoon showed Meese telling
Reagan that World War III started six hours
ago. “Thanks Ed,” Reagan is shown re
plying.
Another cartoon depicts the White
House with aides conferring. One of them
says, “World War III has started. Shall we
wake the president?” And another aide
answers, “He needs his rest.”
As for the perception that Meese is the
man in charge and Reagan has delegated his
authority, Meese said in an interview with
United Press International: “I think the
president and I have the same views —
that’s total fantasy on the part of the media.
“We know that the president is totally in
charge and the rest of us are just here to
help him. And I think this is born primarily
out by the press apparently not having
enough to talk about.”
Meese said that no changes in the presi
dent’s or his modus operandi are contem
plated as a result of the Libyan incident.
“He thought it was funny,” Meese said,
referring to the ruckus over his failure to
awaken the president.
“I try not to bother him,” Meese said,
with details that Meese feels the staff can
handle.
“He wants all the information laid out
before him,” Meese said. “He’s different
from other presidents. He makes his
choices. With other presidents the one who
loses the argument is cast out as a loser, but
that’s not true of Ronald Reagan.”
Meese said that he himself often takes
the role of the devil’s advocate and proposes
alternate solutions that are not acceptable
because he wants Reagan to have the be
nefit of all points of view, “and he welcomes
that. ”
But Reagan has pretty well insulated
himself from any real dissent and the word
around the White House is that only team
players are acceptable.
Reporters who covered a picture-taking
session in Los Angeles when Reagan
gathered with several Cabinet members
and top White House aides, observed that
some 20 men at the luncheon tables were all
basically in the conservative columns and
the differences in their views could only be
described as a slight variation.
And no one would expect that Reagan or
his main coterie would tolerate a strong
difference of opinion on the philosophy and
direction of this administration.
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Warped
Groups study election proce:
By CLAY RICHARDS
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Separate committees
of the Republican and Democratic parties
have begun the job of overhauling the way
Americans elect their president.
A third commission, the Duke Universi
ty Forum, headed by the school’s president
and former presidential candidate, Terry
Sanford, has already completed its research
on the topic and is writing its final report.
Members of all three groups have made
it clear there will be some fundamental
changes in what they believe is a system
that is unwieldly, too expensive and most of
all does not result in the best person being
elected president.
Except for the liberals, who are largely
responsible for the system the way it is,
almost everyone is calling for what in ess
ence is a return to the smoke filled rooms.
Both parties want to see fewer primaries,
a shorter primary season, a greater role by
party leaders in picking candidates, and
thus a diminished role by rank and file who
otherwise are not involved in party politics.
There is also a desire to see the party con
vention return to play a dramatic role in the
nomination process, rather than a dull four-
day television show.
Whether Jimmy Carter and Ronald
Reagan go down in history as good presi
dents, it is perceived as wrong that the best
way to win the White House is to be an
unemployed former governor with lots of
time to campaign.
The current system, politicians argue,
requires a two-year, full-time campaign,
blocking out such hard working public offi
cials as Senate Republican Leader Howard
Baker, who lost to Reagan in 1980, and Rep.
Morris Udall, D-Ariz., whom Carter beat
in 1976.
The political pros are also unhappy with
the fact that party discipline is so weak that
candidates think nothing of challenging a
sitting president of their own party as
11
Reagan did Gerald Ford in
Edward Kennedy did to Carti
In both cases the party squ:
incumbent president weakened
eral election battle and both,ofcoi
While it is unlikely that systei?
vert to one dominated by thep
Ixisses, many would like to see am
where favorite son governors of I'j
California, Ohio and Floridawheeii
their big delegations.
And they want to find a way
race for the presidential nominal
completed sometime shortly
ary Iowa precinct caucus and the
New Hampshire primary.
The bottom line is that politicii
a strong party system makes a
democracy. Up until Reagan, ev<
American president since
Eisenhower tended to ignore the
elected him. And none ever
second term.
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Nevertheless, the episode was revealing
in the amount of power Reagan delegates
and his basic detachment from the day-to-
day running of the presidency.
Clearly, Reagan wants to focus on the big
picture and to be in a position to make all of
the ultimate decisions. But he does not
want to be caught up with details which he
feels bogged down some of his predeces
sors, particularly President Jimmy Carter.
Also on style, Meese said that when
Reagan presides over discussions of high
policy with his top aides, there are no win
ners or losers.
M
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Mjdin
MSi
Bill could alter astrological signs
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Among the more con
troversial legislation awaiting further action
in the Senate is a bill to establish conception
rather than birth as the point at which life
begins.
You are all familiar with the sociological
and philosophical arguments swirling
around this issue, so I won’t get into that.
What I am wondering is how enactment of
such a measure would effect horoscopes.
Astrological projections, as currently
drawn, are based on birth dates. Which is
rather whimsical methodology at best.
I myself was born a Capricorn. Theore
tically, here are some of my zodiacal fea
tures:
— “You are calculating, always contem
plating the usefulness of other people and of
material goods.”
— “In love, you are cool, reserved, pos
sessive, faithful and suspicious — all at the
same time.”
vising, intelligent, faithful and loyal. ” And,
in love, “platonic rather than passionate.”
Now anyone who knows me well will tell
you I come much closer to fitting the second
set of specifications. Which leads me to be
lieve that by the time I was delivered my
mother was about a week overdue.
And what of the millions of premature
babies? Each year, thousands of infants who
normally would have been, say, Scorpios
enter the world as Libras, Virgos and even
Leos.
Would anyone seriously suggest their
Scorpio charts are still valid?
No. Common sense will tell you that our
ruling planets, if indeed we have such
things, are determined at the moment of
conception and not the time of birth.
Borfi a Capricorn, I presumably was con
ceived sometime between March 21 and
April 19. Under the Senate bill, I would
be an Aries, and any sort of objective
analysis would confirm that I am the Aries
type through and through.
Let us see what Llewyllyn’s Mon I {ji n
h
on
*y.
Book has to say about individuals
ruling planet is Mars:
“You are intellectual, with a mini
tive and keen as your body .
“Courageous and adventurous,yo
a pioneer spirit; ever seeking newh
or arenas to conquer.
“You are a first-rate leader. Inlov
are daring, passionate and demand
And so on and so. All ofwhichfitso
a Spandex body suit fits Bo Derek
The daily horoscopes are moredos
target, too.
A recent Capricorn entry, chosen;
dom, speculated that “you may be in
ter financial position than you realize
conjecture was completely out of
with reality.
But the Aries entry (“Makegood:
that fine talent you have. ”) was righti j
money
Had I been born just five days earlier, I
would have been a Sagittarius and would
have had a different set of personality traits,
physical characteristics and career expecta
tions.
Had labor pains hit my mother on Dec.
21 instead of Dec. 26, I would have been
“graceful, quick to learn and good at impro-
J3y Scott McCullar
6000 AAORNINe CLASS* TODAY
I'AA &0IN& TO RUA/ THROU 6 H
THE SYLLABUS FOR THE SE
MESTER, TELL you WHAT
TEXT BOORS YOU'LL NEED,
AND GENERALLY MAKE THE
Y/HOLE COURSE SEEM VERY y
IMFLE
BUT I 'LL TELL YOU NOW THAT
ONLY A THIRD OF YOU ARE
GOING TO SURVIVE THIS COURS^
BECAUSE IT'S DESIGNED TO
WEED OUT ALL THOSE THAT
AREN'T ABSOLUTE FANATICS ON
THE SUBTEXT. NOW THIS IS
THE ONLY TIME YOU'LL SEE ME...
MY T. A’.S WILL TEACH THE
WHOLE COURSE WHILE I'M
HOLED UP IN MY LAB, SOLVING
RESEARCH PROBLEMS FAR more
IMPORTANT THAN YOUR
CRumy SCHOLASTIC CAREERS..
7
SO TRY
TO REMEMBER
MY
FACE ...
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