For the Record

The White House is letting its anger hang out. The Washington Post was informed President Carter was “absolutely livid” about attacks on him and his Administration by George Meany when the AFL-CIO Executive Council met a fortnight ago. Secretary of Labor Marshall later gave Meany a public dressing-down (which Labor Secretaries don’t generally do to AFL-CIO heads). … A week later, Agriculture Secretary Bergland lashed out at certain Democrats in Congress for obstructing Administration programs and promised that (his phrase) “the bed-wetters” would get their comeuppance after the elections. “We’re going to let our so-called friends know that the fun and games are over. From now on it’s serious business.” (Enemies list, anyone?) . . . Meanwhile, the massacre continues in Congress. Speaker Tip O’Neill has put tax reform and a comprehensive energy program at the top of his political “must” list before adjournment of the 95th Congress—tentatively scheduled for Oct. 7. This means that such other high-priority presidential programs as civil service reform, airline deregulation, and hospital cost controls are dead. . . . David Broder, the astute Washington Post columnist, notes that what foreign policy victories Carter has gained—Panama, the jet plane sales, lifting the Turkish arms embargo—he owes in large part to the Republican leadership of Howard Baker in the Senate and John Rhodes in the House. Broder also points out that the Baker-Rhodes combo—and their well disciplined troops—have dealt the White House stinging defeats on such matters as the capital gains tax rollback, the Consumer Protection Agency, election-day voter registration, and various union-backed bills (common situs picketing, labor law reform).

Will he or won’t he (be a one-term President) is the “in” game on the Hill. Jimmy (the Greek) Snyder says the odds are 2 to 1 that Carter won’t seek re-election, and 2 to 1 that, if he does, he won’t make it. … A more sober appraisal was reached by Democratic Party leaders (state chairmen, senators, congressmen) polled by the Christian Science Monitor. They felt (3 to 1) that Carter would be re-elected, but when asked whom they would like to see run it was an almost even three-way split: Carter, 69; Kennedy, 60; somebody else, 57. . . . An AP/NBC poll indicates that one-third of those who voted for Carter in 1976 would not do so again; it found that among Democrats 50 per cent would like to see him run again, but 39 per cent would not.

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The White House is letting its anger hang out. The Washington Post was informed President Carter was “absolutely livid” about attacks on him and his Administration by George Meany when the AFL-CIO Executive Council met a fortnight ago. Secretary of Labor Marshall later gave Meany a public dressing-down (which Labor Secretaries don’t generally do to AFL-CIO heads). … A week later, Agriculture Secretary Bergland lashed out at certain Democrats in Congress for obstructing Administration programs and promised that (his phrase) “the bed-wetters” would get their comeuppance after the elections. “We’re going to let our so-called friends know that the fun and games are over. From now on it’s serious business.” (Enemies list, anyone?) . . . Meanwhile, the massacre continues in Congress. Speaker Tip O’Neill has put tax reform and a comprehensive energy program at the top of his political “must” list before adjournment of the 95th Congress—tentatively scheduled for Oct. 7. This means that such other high-priority presidential programs as civil service reform, airline deregulation, and hospital cost controls are dead. . . . David Broder, the astute Washington Post columnist, notes that what foreign policy victories Carter has gained—Panama, the jet plane sales, lifting the Turkish arms embargo—he owes in large part to the Republican leadership of Howard Baker in the Senate and John Rhodes in the House. Broder also points out that the Baker-Rhodes combo—and their well disciplined troops—have dealt the White House stinging defeats on such matters as the capital gains tax rollback, the Consumer Protection Agency, election-day voter registration, and various union-backed bills (common situs picketing, labor law reform).

Will he or won’t he (be a one-term President) is the “in” game on the Hill. Jimmy (the Greek) Snyder says the odds are 2 to 1 that Carter won’t seek re-election, and 2 to 1 that, if he does, he won’t make it. … A more sober appraisal was reached by Democratic Party leaders (state chairmen, senators, congressmen) polled by the Christian Science Monitor. They felt (3 to 1) that Carter would be re-elected, but when asked whom they would like to see run it was an almost even three-way split: Carter, 69; Kennedy, 60; somebody else, 57. . . . An AP/NBC poll indicates that one-third of those who voted for Carter in 1976 would not do so again; it found that among Democrats 50 per cent would like to see him run again, but 39 per cent would not.