Right Time for Boldness

By Hugh Sidey

The Presidency

In the aftermath of Jimmy Carter's defeat, his pollster Patrick Caddell sat down to ponder the debacle with Ben Wattenberg of the American Enterprise Institute, and Richard Wirthlin, Ronald Reagan's public opinion expert.

Said Caddell: "One of Ihe things a President as a political leader has to confront is how to buy time from the public to put into place programs that take months to get through Congress, much less have an impact. Given the public mood, a healthy dose of boldness in the early days may help buy time. So my advice lo Mr. Reagan now would simply come down to this: Be bold, Mr. President."

Caddell's words were really part of an epitaph for Carter, bul they conveyed the wisdom of the ages and the reason for success of almost every notable American leader. Reagan's boldness in Ihe first four months has stunned Washington. Moderation in politics suggests a lack of conviction. An eagerness to compromise too early leaves the impression of weakness. All through the capital last week, there was the feeling that this is a time for even more decisiveness and for even more daring.

Faced with an additional $8 billion of inflation-induced deficit for this fiscal year and the prospect that Ihe Social Security system may soon go broke, Reagan opted for action. His proposal to reduce Social Security payments produced shock waves--congressional phones and mailbags exploded with protests--but the President may have sown the seeds of future success. Indeed, the wise strategy may be to push even harder. "The iron is never going to be hotter," says one of Reagan's top aides. Their polls show him with a 76% approval rating.

The momentum from victory in the House on the budget resolution has enhanced his clout on Ihe Hill for the lime being. The debate within Reagan's inner circle is how far he should push that advantage. Secret task forces have been assembled by David Stockman, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, to examine more of the so-called sacred cows of federal spending. The mission: lo find additional billions to cut, permanent devices to restrain the federal hand.

The process is not always orderly, nor so thoughlful as it should be. But creative government rarely is. Events move too fast. Decisions must often be made as much on instinct as on precise information, lest the time for action pass. After the big budgel-resolution win, plans to cul Social Security were rushed to the White House. They were presented one morning lo Reagan, almost cold. At first he was disbelieving, then irritated. "Can I have twelve hours to decide?" he asked grumpily. Bul it took less time than that for Reagan to make his decision and seek Ihe cuts. The President now feels that public opinion may be gathering behind him for his program of tax reductions. He plans to increase the pressure in that area.

Great changes have almost always come in such an overheated environment Franklin Roosevelt summoned Congress to enact emergency banking legislation after he took office in 1933; F.D.R. seized the moment to propose 15 new programs before the momentum ran out. Against the recommendations of most of his advisers, Lyndon Johnson in November 1963 sensed that he could use sympathy for Ihe slain John Kennedy to win new civil rights legislation that ultimately transformed the American social structure. Then he moved to push his Great Society program, always going a bit beyond what anyone thought possible.

Reagan seems to have a similar opportunity to get his proposals on a fast track through Congress and into the machinery of Ihe federal bureaucracy. Bul there is al least one profound difference between what Reagan is doing and what Roosevelt and Johnson achieved. Reagan is dismantling, cutting, restraining. When he quits swinging the scythe, his Administration will need a creative policy to fill the gaps. The states and the free marketplace may do much of the job --but not all of it. Imagination must mean as much as money.

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