The Week

■ Aswegoto press, Mario Cuomo may or may not be on the verge of announcing his bid for the Presidency. He has, however, made clear that if he does, it will be because he believes this country needs decisive leadership.

■ The mind of this Administration might not seem to be worth the bones of a single speechwriter, to paraphrase Bismarck, but Dan Quayle and Jack Kemp are making the effort. At issue: whether Bush should call for a growth package of tax cuts. Quayle and Kemp say he should, and do it now (if he waits until the State of the Union, he will have zero credibility). Their colleagues—Darman, Sununu, Brady, and (so far) the President—will have none of it. Kemp has gone public with his dissent, calling the fight “a friendly argument.” What’s friendly about it? The economy is in the tank, and the GOP is joining it. In the void of Bush’s economic policy, weird growths, like David Duke, flourish. Quayle is prohibited, ex officio, from carrying the argument further. But if he and Kemp lose, the best course for Kemp would be resignation from his HUD post, allowing him to consider whether to join what looks to become a mob of Republican primary candidates in New Hampshire.

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Mario Cuomo

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■ Aswegoto press, Mario Cuomo may or may not be on the verge of announcing his bid for the Presidency. He has, however, made clear that if he does, it will be because he believes this country needs decisive leadership.

■ The mind of this Administration might not seem to be worth the bones of a single speechwriter, to paraphrase Bismarck, but Dan Quayle and Jack Kemp are making the effort. At issue: whether Bush should call for a growth package of tax cuts. Quayle and Kemp say he should, and do it now (if he waits until the State of the Union, he will have zero credibility). Their colleagues—Darman, Sununu, Brady, and (so far) the President—will have none of it. Kemp has gone public with his dissent, calling the fight “a friendly argument.” What’s friendly about it? The economy is in the tank, and the GOP is joining it. In the void of Bush’s economic policy, weird growths, like David Duke, flourish. Quayle is prohibited, ex officio, from carrying the argument further. But if he and Kemp lose, the best course for Kemp would be resignation from his HUD post, allowing him to consider whether to join what looks to become a mob of Republican primary candidates in New Hampshire.