Bush Does It His Way

By Douglas Brew

"He is the most loyal team member that anybody could want"

It is one of the fascinating paradoxes and ironies of the Reagan Administration. The right-wingers of the Republican Party keep attacking Vice President George Bush, charging that he is a moderate who is working to undermine the Reagan revolution. But Bush's critics have an inflated view of his powers, Bush's own small staff is dispirited, and his influence within the White House is murky at best.

Nonetheless, recent White House departures of longtime conservative Reagan advisers and the far right's growing feeling that the President's foreign policy is not aggressive enough have led the hard core to increase its attacks. "George Bush was the Trojan horse who opened this Administration up to non-Reaganites," charges John Lofton Jr., editor of Conservative Digest. Bush is blamed for bringing in James A. Baker, his former campaign manager, to be Reagan's chief of staff. Baker then supposedly appointed other "Bush-whackers," who have turned the Reagan Administration soft.

White House aides are amused at the proposition that Bush has established his own cells within the Administration. Indeed, Bush was so intent on proving he was a team player that he has tiptoed around the appointments process, to the dismay of his longtime supporters. Although Bush last week clumsily tried to deny that he once called Reaganomics "voodoo economics," the fact that he made the statement in 1980 is viewed by the right as proof that the Vice President is not a true believer. However, the fact that he tried to deny saying it may be even more interesting; it is an indication of the lengths to which Bush will go to show his loyalty to Reagan.

Far from de-Reaganizing the Administration, Bush is having some trouble holding his own operation together. Recently, two key staff members quit because of dissension in the group. Richard Bond was Bush's deputy chief of staff until he took a job as deputy director of the Republican National Committee, a position that will give him direct control over campaign strategy through the 1982 elections. Right-wingers view Bond's move as just the latest and most outrageous indication that Bush is quietly taking over. But Bond was so frustrated as Bush's deputy that he can no longer even be counted as a Bush loyalist. In addition, Robert Thompson, the Vice President's liaison with Congress, is departing this week. Thompson was discouraged by a staff system that he feels undercuts senior advisers and undermines Bush's effectiveness.

At the heart of the Vice President's staff problems is a longtime Bush associate, Jennifer A. Fitzgerald, technically Bush's assistant for scheduling but in reality a dominant figure who has much to say about where Bush goes, what he does and whom he sees. Bond, Thompson and other staff members say Fitzgerald summarily overrules their recommendations about political events Bush should attend and the Governors, Congressmen or even old friends Bush should see.

Fitzgerald, 50, is a prim, efficient Englishwoman who has worked with Bush since he was director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Aides say Bush trusts her judgment completely. But her overprotectiveness and flashes of anger in public toward other staff members alienated Bush's top aides even before he became Vice President. Baker, who is Bush's close friend, in 1980 threatened to resign as campaign manager unless Bush dumped Fitzgerald. Baker felt that she had more influence over the candidate than he did. After serious reflection, Bush did drop her temporarily, but then paid her out of his own pocket for a while.

The relationship puzzles a number of Bush's intimates. "She has a strange hold on him, and he has a total blind spot about it," says a Bush aide who deeply admires him. Adds a former aide: "The sad thing is he doesn't see what it's doing to him. People who have been with him a long time are losing respect."

Bush admits there are personality clashes on his staff. "I'm not saying she's Miss Popularity," he concedes. "Maybe I need to get more input from others." But he strongly denies Fitzgerald is a problem: "She's doing what I want done. When you have to say no, particularly to friends, there's bound to be some level of frustration."

Overall, it is difficult even for Administration insiders to judge the impact Bush has on White House decisions. According to Reagan advisers and Cabinet secretaries, the deferential Bush keeps such a low profile during meetings that he is often invisible. As a result, they do not regard him as a player who has a major influence on decisions made by the President. There are some noteworthy exceptions, however. Bush argued against upgrading the jet fighters sold to Taiwan, a position that Reagan eventually adopted. And he firmly urged Reagan to adopt sanctions against Poland and the Soviets soon after the imposition of martial law.

Bush insists that he does have influence but will not discuss his role. He says he offers his advice to the President privately, out of the view of Cabinet members and White House aides. Says Bush: "I don't ever discuss what I talk to the President about, because if I did, I would undermine the one thing that matters--the confidentiality and the trust that I think exist between us." His reticence grows from fears of being shut out. "I don't want to end up like Nelson Rockefeller, miserable in the job because the staff cut him off at the knees."

For a number of his activities Bush deserves high marks. He is a star Republican fund raiser who since taking office has traveled to 35 states collecting $4.5 million for the party. He heads three special task forces, including one that has had substantial impact on reducing the number of federal regulations. He sees nearly everything that goes to the President. His crisp conduct of National Security Council meetings during the initial weeks of the crackdown in Poland earned him praise from other top Administration officials. But most important, from Bush's point of view, he has won the confidence of his boss. "He is the most loyal team member that anybody could want," Reagan recently told a conservative friend.

Bush's emphasis on loyalty and his failure to put his mark on policy cast him in the image of a solid junior executive. His conduct suggests that he has expedient political positions, not deeply held convictions. Bush understands the skepticism about his role and achievements. "You take the rap of people saying, 'Whatever happened to George Bush, the vanishing Vice President?' " But his No. 1 priority, Bush insists, is to stay close to Reagan. "If part of the price is to have people say George Bush is not doing anything, then fine, I'll pay that price." --By Douglas Brew

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