Tilly v.Milly

William Coleman, 56, who will resume his law practice after 22 months as Secretary of Transportation:

As T.S. Eliot said, "Between the idea and the reality falls the shadow." A Cabinet person understands that the President is operating within that shadow, educating, negotiating, compromising, transforming the idea into the reality. The Cabinet should be the cornerstone of an effective presidency.

The Ford Cabinet contained a most heterogeneous group of people, and history will record that there was more Cabinet debate, more consultation with the President, than ever before. It may have been one of the greatest Cabinets since F.D.R.'s. President Ford had identified and had come to grips, or was coming to grips, with some of the real tough problems. He made a proposal on energy, for example, and I think it made a lot of sense. But he couldn't get it through the Congress.

Policymaking has its pitfalls. Each special-interest group usually concludes that policy tilts to favor some other group--like the man who outlived two wives, Tilly and Milly, and wished to be buried between them, with a slight tilt toward Milly.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.