European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 4, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse 1z the stars and stripes James Reston february 19 accorpin5 Mondale influence rising As he turns 50 vice president Mondale turned 50 last an age when even the most successful politicians know what it Means to be Middle aged or caught in the Middle Halfway Between Home and Between their personal responsibilities to their parents and their responsibilities to their and Between their political dreams and but this is not exactly True of Fri Mon m he still looks like an assistant to coach Bud Grant of the Minnesota and unlike most vice presidents of Ihus Cen he is gaining influence after his first year in the vice presidency rather than losing the More he the More he is asked to he was assigned the main task of helping president Carter avoid the Legisla Tive confusion of 1977 and define the Priori ties for he was asked by the president to supervise the work of Mike Blumenthal of Treasury and Charlie Schulte at Council of economic advisers on the Selec Tion of a successor to Arthur Burns As chairman of the Federal Reserve he has recently made a Long trip into the West to listen to the Farmers and every other influential group with a grievance a formidable task and he has just been in Canada and in Mexico talking Over a variety of difficult problems with our All plus presiding Over the last melancholy journey of his old Hubert has not been but the rest of 1978 is Likely to be even More for this is an election and in addition to presiding Over the Senate and All his other he has been pulled off to be out in the states trying to maintain the democratic parlays majorities i the House and or at to minimize their losses in next novembers this will clearly change his in Mon Dales first he has been the principal assistant to the and a spokes Man for Carter on Capitol which he knows probably better than any other member of the Carter but once he takes to the Road to elect and defeat whose votes the administration needs to pid Over the Panama and strategic arms health Security among he will obviously have to do some fancy Penfield mandate Doest seem to he Loo anxious about this he works out of a Little cluttered office in the White Down the Hall from the with a fiercely Loyal and almost Loo protective but be is still so surprised by what has happened to him and his family in the last few years and by his unexpected that he just takes things As they come with remarkable having expected so Little a couple of Yean he la astonished to find that he now has so much to he is one of the Lucky ones originally appointed to the Senate and then rescued from his Awn disastrous presidential Campaign by Jimmy who Beu eved in Mondale charac Ter and had us Odd idea that vice presi dents could be useful Mondale has made this transition with out forgetting who he is or where he came he has moved from his old simple Middle class House on Lowell Street in Cleveland Park in Washingtn into the new vice presidential residence a victorian Moos rosily in the Beautiful Hill topped Nark on Manach Toetu Avenue without losing his of humor or proportion or Bis seme of wonder about How it All Hap he is probably going to have a hard ume uus not Only with the republicans in who Mil resent Bis efforts to defeat but also with the Liberal dem who resent Carters Retreat from welfare state and rely on Mon Dale to uphold the Liberal of and the new fair Deal policies of Kennedy and but Mondale at 50 is not the same As Mondale at 40 and the last years of the tits Are clearly not the same As the decades of the 30s through the he notices that Minnesota May be very Liberal on economic but is very cautious about social issues involving the the abortion and tie u troubled by the avoidable controversies of the Carter administration Over Bun Lance and particularly Over the Marston but he is fiercely Loyal to Carter and irritated by the efforts of his Liberal friends to change the presidents leave him he his character is More important than his he will adapt to the political realities without losing his moral author is getting More training for the presidency than any other vice president in this and Ai he goes through the 1971 congressional Cam he will clearly pick up a Tot of lots for the campaigns of the politicians dont always measure birth Days by but by presidential Cam in Mondale will be and in the Campaign of he will still Young enough to be a serious candidate for his party presidential he Doest talk about of he remembers with regret Hubert preys Long run for the while his near and the sadness of his Jesse Jackson o 0 0 learning int All earning Grad learning and earning grades sometimes have Little in yet Many believe you cannot have one without the educated men and women of it seems to be that Balai thai often the re the wont imaginable Breeding through outline the tint to easy Enos Jtj what is to be then Itlay by search of wac Jef and that leads to conviction u Mineral was in then comes the pc care sly whether an education worked in the end it As simple i it i it omit my m Mem to m i h by Cut Wal h not Grunt m rim tin Tun Many straight students become successful but even More c Stu dents succeed As a Dussl a great share of my Energy these Days is directed at the efforts of Young things will be out of i averted if what is Imo lib Dottl without so Low consider Bow it Tel Yew see what the subject i then comes the Basic i to do 1 1 by doing it re h repetition leads Tol e Central ingredient Ftp danger Here ii that can be comprehension and with those who eardly 1 in Church but dont Hie crucial and that u Whit is a c learning with Amin Al Tel i m
