Who's in A Hurry? Not Bill Clinton . . . Yet

He showed a confident familiarity with the nuances of policy, spoke (in a refreshing change from recent presidential practice) in complete grammatical sentences, and by his own testimony is "having a wonderful time" preparing to take over the government. One thing Bill Clinton is not, though, is in a hurry. At his first press conference as President-elect, Clinton made clear that he will take his time staffing his Administration and setting policy. Aides released four dozen names of people appointed to the transition. But Clinton said he would "spend a lot more time" pondering Cabinet appointments, and not make any until he had decided possible changes in "mission" for the departments.

The President-elect, in fact, seemed eager to guard his Administration in advance against any charge that it represents special interests. Some skeptics had already questioned Vernon Jordan's position as chairman of the transition, noting that Jordan is a director of cigarette-making RJR Nabisco, and wondering if he would help pick public health officials. Clinton answered firmly that he, not Jordan, would make those selections. On Friday the Clinton team announced unprecedentedly tough ethical standards for people working on the transition, and the President-elect is expected to follow this week with stricter rules yet for prospective Administration officials: they probably will be barred from lobbying their old departments for five years after leaving government service, perhaps from ever becoming lobbyists for foreign governments. That might keep out of the Administration some prominent Democrats who would want to return more speedily to what have become their primary, and lucrative, careers as lawyer-lobbyists.

On policy, the President-elect pledged to steer a middle course between all- out deficit reduction and gangbusters stimulation of the economy. His goal is "to bring this deficit down . . . gradually and within a framework which permits us to substantially increase investment" (good luck). On legislative strategy, Clinton said he would emulate, of all people, Ronald Reagan and pack "a whole lot of changes into omnibus bills . . . the fewer votes ((in Congress)) you have, the better off you are." The President-elect summoned congressional leaders to a Sunday huddle in Little Rock, and was then to leave the Arkansas capital for a quick trip to Washington, where he will confer with President Bush and members of Congress. The transition this week, said Clinton, will accelerate to "a fairly breathless pace." (See related stories beginning on page 24.)