Skating Deftly But on Thin Ice

As he struggled with the thorny issues of foreign policy last week, Jimmy Carter got some fairly good news: the polls rated him a hit as President. Gallup's survey, representative of the others, showed that 66% of those questioned approved of the way the President was handling his job, while only 8% did not (26% had no opinion). No matter that Americans are usually anxious to see the best in a new President.* Carter's obvious diligence, his eagerness to tackle every problem simultaneously, his popular support--the evidence all seemed to add up to an early box office success.

Or did it? For all the favorable signs, there was in some Washington quarters a disquieting sense of unease, a feeling that the President was skating on thin ice. One of the most notable facts about Carter's rise to the presidency was that he had no solid power base to count on. He won by putting together a remarkable but shaky coalition--liberals, conservatives, old-line Democrats, blacks, Southern rednecks, Northern hardhats. He seemed to promise something to everyone, and stressed themes that cut across ideological barriers: welfare reform, Government reorganization and, even more fundamentally, trust ("I'll never lie to you").

Although it is far too early for an accounting, the White House realizes that Carter's campaign promises will be re-examined in light of his actions. His staff has drawn up a 111-page list of those promises for his reference. He is fulfilling many of them--creating a welfare-reform plan, drafting an energy policy, tackling Government reorganization. But Carter has at least hedged on some of the other campaign pledges. In spite of his previous opposition to the construction of B-1 bombers, he has yet to announce he will halt the program inherited from Gerald Ford's budget. He has also abandoned the notion, barring a national emergency, of stand-by wage-and-price controls. On other issues, Carter has fudged his position. The vow to cut $5 billion to $7 billion in waste from the defense budget will not be fulfilled until next year at the earliest, he now says, although he appeared to imply during the campaign that he could do it right away.

Many of Carter's difficulties stem from the fact that America is divided on major issues, and he cannot be expected magically to reconcile the differences in a few weeks. Example: some economists and businessmen fear that his economic program is inflationary, while many liberals deem it insufficient. Carter has a Democratic Congress, of course, but many of its leaders are eager to reassert congressional power eroded during recent Administrations.

Impatient Carping. In such a situation, he must maneuver. Last week he caused a howl of outrage on Capitol Hill by cutting $289 million for 19 water-control projects from the proposed budget for fiscal 1978. That was bad enough, but Carter staffers failed to reach all the key figures on the Hill to inform them before the story broke. Arizona Congressman Mo Udall, who heard about the move from a reporter, called Carter's decision "zero-based budgeting gone mad." Western Governors were equally irate. Said Colorado's Governor Richard Lamm: "This is not the way to win friends and influence people in the West, particularly in a time of drought".

The Administration has agreed to review the merits of each project. But some Congressmen acknowledged that a number of affected projects were indeed questionable, and that the White House had probably been right in cutting off the funds.

Perhaps the surest sign that Carter lacks strong institutional support is the fact that labor still has its doubts about him. The AFL-CIO, which campaigned effectively for him last fall, wants an economic-stimulus plan about twice the size of Carter's. Last week labor enthusiastically backed a House vote to double the $2 billion Carter wanted to spend on creating public works jobs.

AFL-CIO President George Meany is also dead set against Carter's effort to dampen inflation by persuading the unions and business to give the Government prior notice of their plans to ask for higher wages or to raise prices. When Carter last week firmly reiterated his support for the plan, Meany laughed: "That's what makes horse racing."

Carter could take some satisfaction from the fact that the Senate last week swiftly confirmed his Annapolis classmate, Admiral Stansfield Turner, as Director of Central Intelligence. Moving steadily, but more slowly, toward confirmation was Paul Warnke as SALT negotiator and head of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. But other serious staffing problems remain, with many top posts (including ambassadorships) unfilled. Admits Charles Kirbo, Carter's longtime friend from Atlanta and one of the chief chefs in the kitchen cabinet: "There are just literally thousands of people the President's staff is trying to consider. I get on him myself about people I've recommended and I find out when I get up here that I ought not to be pressing him."

Many Democrats in Congress feel the main problem is that White House staffers, rather than Cabinet officers and others who have already been appointed, are trying to find the right people for the right jobs. Says one Democratic Senator: "They might have run the Georgia government that way, but they're not going to run the U.S. Government that way. Until we get rid of the peanut Mafia and start getting some people in place in the departments, they're not going to be able to do anything."

Some of this carping must be put down to the impatience of Washington professionals, especially with outsiders. Some of it is the inevitable result of inexperience, and Carter clearly deserves a lot more time before serious judgments are made. Meanwhile, he has urged his staffers to spend a lot of time with their families, but his aides have begun putting in six-and seven-day weeks in the White House, getting home long after the dinner dishes have been washed. Typical of the Georgians' zeal is the case of Frank Moore, head of the White House legislative liaison office. Moore slipped on some ice and broke his wrist, but he did not go to a doctor for several days: he simply did not have the time.

A Different Feeling. The President himself is taking a speed-reading course. He joked: "I hope my scores will be more secret than CIA activities." Carter also found time to answer 48 letters solicited by the Boston Globe and passed along to him for reply. Some of the letters came from first-graders at the Pearl Street School in Reading, Mass. One boy asked: "How do you eat and work?" Answer: "Usually at the same time, but I never talk with my mouth full." Three girls wondered how he felt about his job. Replied Carter: "So far I like being President very much. Sometimes it is fun, and it's always interesting and exciting. And it does feel different. People make a big fuss over you when you're President. But I'm very serious about doing everything I can to make sure it doesn't go to my head."

*Compared with the ratings of other modern presidents, Carter's was hardly exceptional. In Gallup polls all taken from two to six weeks after they assumed office, Truman scored 87% approval; Eisenhower 67%; Kennedy 72%; Johnson 79%; Nixon 61%; Ford 66%.

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