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The Battalion
Viewpoint
December 9, K
i, \ •
Slouch By Jim Earle
‘‘It had to happen! A bunch of freshmen in that outfit are
claiming that they have been held captive as hostages since
September by sophomores. ”
Reagan's regime
in critical period
By DAVID S. BRODER
WASHINGTON — It seems a foolish
thing to say about an administration which
has been around for less than a year and has
at least three more years to go. But there is
a growing sense that both politically and
governmentally, the Reagan administration
may have entered the most critical six
months of its life.
The President’s pollster, Richard B.
Wirthlin, said just before Thanksgiving that
these next six months could be decisive for
the political fortunes of the administration
and the Republican Party. Wirthlin is wor
ried that if the free-fall recession now under
way has not hit bottom and begun to turn
around by late spring, then recovery is not
likely to be visible enough by autumn to
give the Republicans strong ground on
which to fight the mid-term election.
The other day, one of the more reflective
of the President’s senior staff members
made a similar point in conversation about
the governmental world, arguing that it is
in the period from 9 to 15 months after
inauguration, that “a new President comes
to terms with reality.”
His comments triggered a faint memory
and, sure enough, the files turned up a
column by this reporter, published exactly
four years ago today (Dec. 7, 1977), on “the
second transition” of the Carter administra
tion.
Looking back a year to the 1976 Ford-to-
Carter transition, I wrote: “Then, it was a
time for announcing ‘superb’ appointees
and ‘comprehensive’ solutions to long-
simmering problems. Now, it is a time for
taking a second look at some less-than-
superb performers and some comprehen
sive plans that proved less than compelling
in practice.”
With the wisdom of hindsight, it is easy
to say now that President Carter failed to
use his “second transition” opportunity to
weed out the weak performers in his White
House and Cabinet or to sort out his prior
ity programs from those which he should
have learned were unrealistic.
What is striking is that some Reagan
advisers — like some of their counterparts
in the Carter circle four years ago — recog
nize this as a critical passage for their Presi
dent.
Personnel decisions — whether to re
place the ineffectual national security and
domestic policy advisers Richard Allen and
the small society
by Brickman
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©1981 King Features Syndicate. Inc World rights reserved
Bartlett’s quotations: a way to cope
m
Each person has his or her own way of
coping with trouble and strife. Some people
turn to drink; some to the Bible; some to
hard work.
I turn to “Bartlett’s Familiar Quota
tions.”
While lacking the hedonistic appeal of
alcohol, the spiritual authority of religion
and the financial reward of industriousness,
Bartlett’s has a certain fey charm. It offers
some of the wisest — and some of the stu
pidest— things ever said by human beings.
During this ugly time in the academic
year, perhaps stopping for a moment to
ponder some of Bartlett’s choicer morsels
would be helpful. Here are some of my
favorites:
"History is more or less bunk, “ Henry
Ford (1863-1947). This is for everyone
struggling through American history and
trying to recall the date of the Gadsden
purchase. And before you history profes
sors get too self-righteous, just remember
who was a multimillionaire and who is not.
"Conscience is the inner voice that
warns us somebody may be looking, “ Hen
ry Louis Mencken (1880-1956). Why
doesn’t anyone write like that anymore?
Mencken had a million of these, by the way;
the library has a number of his books and
most of them sound just like that.
"Conscience and cowardice are really
the same thing, " Oscar Wilde (1854-1900).
Obviously great minds think alike but I
think Wilde wins the succinctness award.
"Life is just one damned thing after
another," Frank Ward O’Malley (1875-
1932). Truer words were never spoken, and
now you know where Gilda Radner gets her
lines.
"In the United States there is more space
where nobody is than where anybody is.
This is what makes America what it is,"
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946). Stein had a
funny way of looking at things, a funnier
way of saying things and and even funnier
way of making brownies. But occasionally
she rose out of her hashish haze and wrote
something like this. I think I understand it,
but knowing Stein’s work, I’m probably
wrong.
"\Ve live under a government of men
and morning newspapers, “ Wendell Phil
lips (1811-1884). The Battalion comes out in
the afternoon, so we wouldn’t know.
"Lawsuit, n: a machine which you go into
as a pig and come out of as a sausage,"
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914). Sr
perhaps, but dedicated to our:
and its long-suffering officials.
"America is the only nation in I
which miraculously has gone direct!;
barbarism to degeneration wi
usual interval of civilization,'
Clemenceau (1841-1929). Some fori
like us and some foreigners, no
don’t. The French can be
when you think that this statement!
attributed to one of the architects o
Versailles Peace Treaty, you begintoi
der if World War I was worth it aftei
"The sergeant’s widow told yo
when she said I flogged her. 1 never 11^
her. She flogged herself/' Nikolai (
(1809-1852). This is from “The Imps
General” and probably was the i
for that African dictatorship whicl
political prisoner who died was "pi
while trying to escape.” Life
art, Oscar.
"A man may build himself a I
bayonets, but he cannot sit on iV'lflj
Ralph Inge (1860-1954). Not if hewn
sit anywhere else for a while.
"Every day, in every way, I’m £
better and better, “ Emile Gone I
1926). This statement was thefoun
Coueism, a pseudo-philosophy’
joyed a vogue in the 1920s. Iguess'ya
to be there.
Now don’t you feel better?
bara P
ighs ou
Martin Anderson, the crippled Budget Di
rector David Stockman or the contentious
Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. —
are the most obvious choices facing the
President. ,
But equally compelling are the policy
choices involved in the current presidential
review of fiscal 1983 budget decisions. For
the first time since he became President,
Reagan is hearing from men he picked to
run Cabinet departments and agencies the
argument that they cannot absorb cuts of
the scale Stockman is recommending, with
out crippling programs they believe vital.
The President can respond to their argu
ments by reiterating his campaign rhetoric
about all the “waste, fraud and abuse” in the
domestic side of government. Or he can
adjust to reality — not by abandoning his
goal of budgetary discipline but by tailoring
it to the facts to which he is now being
exposed in this budget review.
Those who are.hoping for the pragmatists
in Reagan to prevail argue that the policy
problems in the unfolding budget picture
are manageable in a four-fold approach:
— Modest reductions in the planned ex
pansion of national defense and the “safety
net” entitlement programs like Social
Security, both of which the President has
rhetorically put off limits.
— A modest increase in taxes, probably
through excises, rather than delaying the
scheduled individual rate reductions.
— A modest easing of monetary policy, in
order to bring down interest rates fast
enough to assure the late-spring economic
recovery for which Wirthlin and all GOP
candidates pray.
— And a modest shift in presidential rhe
toric, to point out that a recession year de
ficit of less than $100 billion in an economy
of about $3.5 trillion is not by itself a huge
inflationary force.
All of these points go somewhat against
the grain for Reagan. But the choice as the
pragmatists in his circle; of advisers see it, is
to make a relatively modest course correc
tion now — or risk letting the policy initia
tive slip into other hands: to Congress, the
interest groups or the political opposition.
That is what happened to Carter.
Whether Reagan accepts this advice or
follows a different, perhaps more purist or
ideological course, one thing is clear: This
is, in fact, the most critical time in his pres
idency.
^7 STEP
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It s your turn
Sports editor s column criticized
meet stric
tl.
Editor:
I understand that The Battalion is a pub
lication by which journalism students at
Texas A&M can practice and polish their
writing skills, and at the same time I realize
that every person has a right to his own
opinions, but I do not feel that space should
be wasted in any issue of the Battalion with
any material of the type in Ritchie Priddy’s
sports editorial on Monday, Dec. 7. I am
not writing this letter because I am a smit
ten Oiler fan, because I am not. I have
always rooted for the Dallas Cowboys, and I
consider it a disgrace to that organization
that any of its fans would stoop to the low
level that Mr. Priddy used in his Monday
editorial. Never before in my life have I
seen such a ridiculous hodge-podge collec
tion of convoluted logic, prejudices, and
even racism. If The Battalion is to remain a
quality publication, only quality material
should be included in its text. I would like
to suggest to Mr. Priddy that, the next time
he can not think of a decent topic to logically
write about in an editorial, he refrain from
even picking up a pen and spare us the
embarrassment of having to see such gar
bage in our fine campus paper. Oh, in case
you didn’t know, Mr. Priddy, the Houston
Oilers were AFL champions for the first
two years of their existence, a feat the Dal
las Cowboys were quite unable to achieve
during their first two years in the NFL.
David Patlovany ‘82
cerning the quality of teaching at Texas
A&M. Everybody loves to complain about a
certain professor or department seldom do
they compliment the excellent teachers.
The Freshman Chemistry Program at
Texas A&M is superior in both its learning
resources and its teaching. Students at
other universities are having a
mastering or even becoming compete
chemistry. The high percentage of®
lent chemistry grades reflects an elite*
well organized program. The progra*
serves to be lauded.
Mike Whelk
By D]
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aking the
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The
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The r
hat, in a
Praise for chemistry
Editor:
There has been some recent talk con-
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Angelique Copeland
Managing Editor Marcy Boyce
City Editor . . . Jane G. Brust
Asst. City Editor Kathy O’Connell
Photo Editor Dave Einsel
Sports Editor Ritchie Priddy
Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff
Asst. Focus Editor Debbie Nelson
News Editors Phyllis Henderson
Bernie Fette, Belinda McCoy
Diana Sultenfuss
StaffWriters Gary Barker
Frank L. Christlieb, Randy Clements
Gaye Denley, Nancy Floeck, Tim Foarde
Colette Hutchings, Daniel Puckett
Denise Richter, Mary Jo Rummel, Rick Stolle
Nancy Weatherley, Barbie Woelfel
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Graphic Artist Richard DeLeon Jr.
Photographers . Brian Tate
Daniel Sanders, Colin Valentine
EDITORIAL POLICY
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operated as a community service to Texas A&M University
and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Bat
talion are those of the editor or the author,
necessarily represent the opinions ofTexasA&M IhW
ty administrators or faculty members, or of the iWI
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The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspafe’^
students in reporting, editing and photography c
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Questions or comments concerning any editorialaq
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Address all inquiries and correspondence to: Editor,
Battalion, 216 Reed McDonald, Texas A&M Univer
College Station, TX 77843.
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