Well here it is, the last day of school. The press of business will be taking us away from Washington and away from the typewriter, and, accordingly, we have asked the boss man for an extended leave. Before we slip off into the bound volumes, however, we will be forgiven, won’t we?, a grab for the last word. So listen up.
To the Quipper. If you listen carefully in the stillness of the night, you will hear the termites masticating. They are working on the reputation of David Stockman. They seek to transform him from the Stakhanovite budget-cutter of the first two hundred days into the political liability of the mid-term elections. Chomp, chomp, chomp. Now it is well known that Stockman presents a nubile target for bureaucratic termites, editorial cartoonists, and other malefactors of public taste: as a personality, he is no threat to the memory of Louis Armstrong. But ask yourself this question: could Satchmo have closed down Community Services? Do you have anybody on the bench who can argue convincingly for additional cuts in the ’82 budget? Is there anybody else you would trust with the knife when the incision reaches the vital organs—Social Security and national defense? The answers are no, no, and no. (Perhaps you could have Speakes leak it to Newsweek that Nancy just adores Stockman. That would give pause to the little people of the underground kingdom.)
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