Reagan’s Ruminations

Camp David, Md—Dear Diary: Who was that Harvard professor who said that the third year is the one that makes or breaks a Presidency? I suppose this is doubly true for my Presidency, since I’ve staked my political salvation on the economy. Those massive tax and budget cuts could boomerang catastrophically. Lucky for me that the recovery is well under way.

But we can’t lull ourselves. The lameduck Congress taught us that. Battlefield number one for ’83 is going to be in Congress. Oh, the Senate will still be reasonably docile, despite the split among the Republicans: Helms & Co. on the Right, Dole & Co. on the Left. The press can say what it wants about Jesse’s “obstructionist” filibustering on the nickel-a-gallon tax—strike that, user’s fee—but Helms did me one big political favor. He pulled the headlines away from the fact that the lame duck kicked a web-footed hole through the myth of my invincibility. Not only did we lose the $1 billion in construction funds for the MX, but almost all of the $2.5 billion for R&D. We also lost the Caribbean basin, Radio Marti, and enterprise zones. By playing Jesse up as an ideological Neanderthal at war with me, the press made me look agreeably balanced. So, all in all, thanks to Helms, and my vanishing-act strategy, the lame duck hardly shed a feather on Dutch.

JM

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John McLaughlin

Camp David, Md—Dear Diary: Who was that Harvard professor who said that the third year is the one that makes or breaks a Presidency? I suppose this is doubly true for my Presidency, since I’ve staked my political salvation on the economy. Those massive tax and budget cuts could boomerang catastrophically. Lucky for me that the recovery is well under way.

But we can’t lull ourselves. The lameduck Congress taught us that. Battlefield number one for ’83 is going to be in Congress. Oh, the Senate will still be reasonably docile, despite the split among the Republicans: Helms & Co. on the Right, Dole & Co. on the Left. The press can say what it wants about Jesse’s “obstructionist” filibustering on the nickel-a-gallon tax—strike that, user’s fee—but Helms did me one big political favor. He pulled the headlines away from the fact that the lame duck kicked a web-footed hole through the myth of my invincibility. Not only did we lose the $1 billion in construction funds for the MX, but almost all of the $2.5 billion for R&D. We also lost the Caribbean basin, Radio Marti, and enterprise zones. By playing Jesse up as an ideological Neanderthal at war with me, the press made me look agreeably balanced. So, all in all, thanks to Helms, and my vanishing-act strategy, the lame duck hardly shed a feather on Dutch.