European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 24, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes april columns comments James Reston Reagan is Only doubling the damage already done president Reagan is still whistling past the graveyard to keep his courage by blaming his Trou Bles in Nicaragua on the Congress and his blunders in arranging his visit to Germany on the he Hast controlled the damage but doubled there int a politician in Washington or a president of recent memory who Hast stumbled into the ditch along the but few have had the wit to follow the example of the late mayor Fiorello la Guardia of new who once said that when he made a its 3 beaut the mistakes in planning the presidents trip to Ger Many for the 40th anniversary of the end of the last world War were at first a lapse of staff then an embarrassment he enlarged into an unintended insult by digging himself deeper into the he Doest avoid Booby traps but shovels them for Reagan has never been noted for his study of history or for his sensitivity to the memories and sufferings of the last so his recent lapses Are no Surprise or what is More disturbing is his recent resort to Chancellor Helmut Kohl of West Germany was not As was suggested in an earlier for the failure of the on a journey of re Mem to Stop at the most tragic Symbol of mass Mur Der of this the Chancellor Felt obliged to make Public that he had proposed a ceremony in memory of the in his anxiety to get a doubting Congress to vote another million for the nicaraguan Reagan suggested that the Pope and the president of Colombia approved of his the Vatican and the colombian president took the unusual step of stating publicly that they opposed a military conclusion to the since the president has tried to quell the uproar by postponing a confrontation with Congress on Nicara Guan Aid and agreeing to visit the Bergen Belsen death Camp where jews were while still insisting on laying a Wreath at the Pitburg where some members of the nazi is extermination squad Are Bur Flora Lewis so the reconciliation he wanted is still one of the paradoxes of All this is that the president recently realized that he had to come into the major decisions of his second term with a stronger cab inet and White House staff than he had in his they have made a shaky but despite All the staggering and blundering of recent the Outlook is now for a steadier control of executive decisions with clearer lines of authority in fewer Donald the former Treasury will have More responsibility As chief of staff than his Pride James Baker the president wont let Regan be but Regan will be coordinating the work of two new centralized Cabinet councils one on eco nomic headed by and another on Domestic headed by attorney general Edwin Meese these two along with the National Security will be the main channels for presidential Deci with vice president George Bush playing an increasingly important As an intimate of Secretary of state George Shultz and Robert Mcfarlane at Csc and Baker and Meese on the two new nobody can be sure How this new system will but the main players seem More pragmatic and con genial with one and Are Likely to diminish the influence of Secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger and Cia director William though these Are determined and articulate men who Are not Given to easy it could be that this recent Flap Over two avoidable tangles will tidy things up in Washington and produce a More coherent and thoughtful the president has always relied heavily on his but in the first term tended to listen More to his friends judge Clark at Mike his advertising and except for All gone or nothing is harder for a particularly a staff of personal than to say no to a president and oppose his casual approach to foreign which Are sometimes alarmingly foreign to Ronald much will depend on Pat Buchanan View and influence in his new Job As director of communications in the White he will undoubtedly have considerable influence on what the president says and where he it is in this where the president is supposed to be so that he has lately stumbled so Buchanan has Strong conservative but he has been around Washington for a Long time and knows As Well As anybody that nothing hurts a president More than his facts wrong and pretending he has support where no such support c 1985 new York times Syndicate Reagan prop0666 More 6ffbct of Aco item americas South Africa policy is Foo Little too late faced with 18 Bills in Congress and mounting Public Secretary of state George Shultz has called for an american consensus on policy toward South he lists Points on which almost every one can among them apartheid must and we do not support Vio but we do support and will sup port aggressively those who have committed themselves to promote change and the Only he is How this change will come this is Fine As far As it but the old lament of too Little and too late a the timing of the Secretary speech was arranged hastily after the recent escalation of deaths in South after the administration realized there is real momentum behind congressional efforts to do something More than Cluck to show after a number of Ameri including Amy and previously some congressmen were will ing to be arrested in demonstrations against South Shultz said flatly that South Africa denial of political rights to the country majority apartheid is not Only mor ally it is in the Long run in but the official position shows less patience with american critics of South with South africans who plead for change and than with Pretorias increasingly bloody Provo a when Shultz went on to the Agenda we proposed is accepted by All he was either blindfolded or referring to some unav wed he welcomed South Africa decision to at the february 1983 Lusaka agreement to withdraw from negotiated with american but soon after he the state department Dis closed that it had made serious representations against South Africa intention to recognize an interim internal govern ment in the withdrawal from Angola was sup posed to be a step toward carrying out the United nations plan for Independence of Namibia with supervised recognition of the government Pretoria set up in the vast which South Afri Ca occupies and Calls Southwest would be a Clear sign that there is not the slightest intention of complying with the this is not the Progress Shultz w nor can much Progress be claimed for South Africa announcement that it will repeal its mixed marriage and immorality which authorized the police in Vade Peoples bedrooms in search of Evi Dence against forbidden interracial under these obnoxious there were More than prosecutions Between 1949 and but there has been no hint that Laws will be making it impossible to say where mixed couples can which hospitals can care for where their children can go to those Are everyday things that most there is no sign of Hope that the frustrations driving Young South africans to violence May be re to of ill i Harold but you sure Rock didst Cone from South lived so that those like Bishop Desmond who preach will continue to be Alan Cowell gave a chilling picture in a recent new York times Magazine of the human desperation that is turning children into revolutionary it is As Shultz that there int much the United states can do about it is also True that for and strategic the United states can be indifferent Only at its South of whatever skin watch american responses Black activists have noticed that sympathetic moves in the United even such mild nods As Shultz seem to come Only after scenes of violence shown on american that country has worked itself into a tragic but it Only seems to at tract american attention when things get As Shultz it requires a considered and effective we simply cannot he to let Southern Africa become a divisive Domestic tearing our country rendering our actions haphazard and in and contributing to the ugliest and most violent but to head it an american Consen sus needs to show that the United states listens and worries even when the awful events of South african daily life do not make telling americans to be still will not gain influence nor Brake Vio the administration could create a consensus if it would take the Lead in practical Steps to make american disapproval not by opposing american measures of c 1985 new York times Syndicate