Suave Jim

Transplants work, it would seem, in politics as well as in medicine. Of 19 Cabinet-rank members of the Reagan team, seven were transplanted from different first-term posts: Ed Meese at Justice, Bill Bennett at Education, John Herrington at Energy, Don Hodel at Interior, Jim Miller at the OMB, Don Regan at the White House, and Jim Baker at Treasury. These seven transplants chart fresh policy; whereas the old guard manage crises, protect turf, speak in clichés, and succumb to their bureaucracies.

Take suave James Addison Baker III. As Ronald Reagan’s first-term chief-of-staff, Baker was generally regarded as the shrewdest, most non- ideological, and most powerful member of the Meese/Baker/Deaver troika. When he swapped jobs with then Treasury Secretary Don Regan at the beginning of the year, some insiders thought that he might not make the grade because of his lack of exposure to the complexities of international and domestic finance. But Baker is a very quick study and a skillful utilizer of staff talent, notably that of Harvard- trained (MBA) Richard Darman. As things stand now, Jim Baker is happier, more relaxed, more “centered,” as one aide and friend puts it, than he ever was in his frenetic, centrifugal White House job. Many think that Baker has more political clout with Ronald Reagan now than he had when he was at the White House, because he no longer is required to fight the day-to-day battles on a range of fronts, to balance conflicting constituencies, to advance all options for review. “Baker can now fashion policy full time,” says an aide. “Compared to firefighting at the White House, that’s a luxury. And the President has given him a long leash.” (Don Regan’s shop knew little, for example, about Baker’s early October maneuverings in international economic policy at Seoul until they turned up in the newspapers.)

JM

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John McLaughlin

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Ronald Reagan

Department of the Treasury

Transplants work, it would seem, in politics as well as in medicine. Of 19 Cabinet-rank members of the Reagan team, seven were transplanted from different first-term posts: Ed Meese at Justice, Bill Bennett at Education, John Herrington at Energy, Don Hodel at Interior, Jim Miller at the OMB, Don Regan at the White House, and Jim Baker at Treasury. These seven transplants chart fresh policy; whereas the old guard manage crises, protect turf, speak in clichés, and succumb to their bureaucracies.

Take suave James Addison Baker III. As Ronald Reagan’s first-term chief-of-staff, Baker was generally regarded as the shrewdest, most non- ideological, and most powerful member of the Meese/Baker/Deaver troika. When he swapped jobs with then Treasury Secretary Don Regan at the beginning of the year, some insiders thought that he might not make the grade because of his lack of exposure to the complexities of international and domestic finance. But Baker is a very quick study and a skillful utilizer of staff talent, notably that of Harvard- trained (MBA) Richard Darman. As things stand now, Jim Baker is happier, more relaxed, more “centered,” as one aide and friend puts it, than he ever was in his frenetic, centrifugal White House job. Many think that Baker has more political clout with Ronald Reagan now than he had when he was at the White House, because he no longer is required to fight the day-to-day battles on a range of fronts, to balance conflicting constituencies, to advance all options for review. “Baker can now fashion policy full time,” says an aide. “Compared to firefighting at the White House, that’s a luxury. And the President has given him a long leash.” (Don Regan’s shop knew little, for example, about Baker’s early October maneuverings in international economic policy at Seoul until they turned up in the newspapers.)