European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 21, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes july 1985 columns comments David Broder the sad corruption of budget director Stockman David the retiring budget direct leaves government to a chorus of Praise unrivalled by that for any Cabine level official of any administration since Henry the parallels arc deeper and More disturbing than you might like is a favorite of the Washington honoured for his admired for his technique and spared from accountability for the policy disasters in his area of in the Case of David i write those words with great for i had a personal affection and relationship with which i certainly did not have with kiss i met Stockman when he was a student at played a minor middleman role in his getting his first Washington Job As a congressional staff and watched admiringly the flowering of his career As a member of the House and the Reagan in a Book published five years i focused on Stock Man As an exemplar of the Best and brightest of the younger generation of he became the most powerful and influential member of that generation in government which makes his Fate All the More important to understand and Stockman was corrupted by a particularly insidious part of the Washington Power a game which Only Kissinger in my memory has played with comparable he portrayed himself to the key figures in the press and the other parts of the Perma nent Washington Power Structure As the reasonable striving to Advance intelligent policy against the those he characterized As ideologues and ignoramuses among his colleagues in the Al the same he portrayed himself to those col leagues As an invaluable asset to because of his influence and credibility with the Washington Power it was the classic Kissinger double agent in both on the quite reasonable As sumption that the end product would be better with the participation of a Stockman or a Kissinger than Stockman went a step beyond Kissinger in collaborating willingly and knowingly in journalist William Greid cars 1981 Atlantic monthly Magazine description of his the Story made him a National figure and took him in for a woodshed treatment from president in that he revealed in his own indelible phrases his deep seated doubts about both the numbers and the policy rationale he supplied to Congress and the Public during the historic budget and tax debates in the first eight months of the Reagan Only the brilliance of his performance spared him from the accusation of Complete cynicism from the critics of that Only the value of his intellect let him survive the desire for retribution from its genuine that was the time for a resignation on Prin but Stockman let it he offered the president his resignation but did not press it when Reagan de William Buckley w it was another proof of lord actions with a Washington variant Power and the Prospect of losing Power corrupts restored to the bosom of the president and of the Washington Power Stockman saw no need to change his method of during the last he has continued to operate on the Bac Channel of guidance to the while molding his Public statements to the prevailing political during the 1984 Campaign when Reagan was peddling Bluesky reassurances that America had found the key to perpetual economic growth that would shrink the budget Stockman was once the elec Tion was he quickly resumed issuing dire predictions of runaway As his own resignation time he became More and More publicly outspoken about the draconian spending cuts that would be needed along with Proba ble tax increases to Stop the Haemorrhage in the Bud for this belated he has been the Kissinger parallels just As kick Are and any mow the great foreign policy Maestro accepted a Nobel peace prize for his work on a tragedy of historic so Stockman is graciously accepting Praise from the politicians and the editorialists for pre siding Over an unparalleled disaster in fiscal both men Are smart enough to believe that if they just had their they could fix the problem they were supposed to both men Are arrogant enough to oper ate on the belief that deceiving the american people and their elected representatives is perfectly justifiable on Many like Stockman will now take up the role of a wealthy entrepreneur a frequent commentator in the on television and the lecture discussing the failings of his i am too old to worry about my own disappointment at the Way this turned my concern is that Stock mans contemporaries will see him As the example they should As the first of his generation to achieve real it is a troubling legacy he Post writers group Playboy says its under attack by amoral terrorists i have Here a form letter from the editorial director of Playboy Arthur Kretchmer asking me to authorize the use of my name in an advertising Campaign aimed against groups protesting those features of Playboy that made it have urged Boycotts Here and there against stores that sell the the letter is wonderfully complacent in in its Choice of rather More vulnerable than it might have its tone is that of the fraternity president addressing his you May not be aware of but there Are some people out there who dont like if you Are not aware of it May be you Are not aware that Washington was our first and that Congress is a bicameral the letter goes in not talking about those effete literary snobs that your re occasionally forced to drink with in the Hampton the allusion is to new York review of books types who feel that you dont really need to run a Brothel in order to Jure people into Good in talking about righting groups and cause zealotry makes strange bedfellows some left Wing groups As that the editorial director of Playboy should Cavil at any two people meeting in bed in play As often As not the stranger they Are to one the is though not newsworthy enough to make it into the next Issue of but the letter goes on to com Plain against a kind of moral terrorism via and onsite Kretchmer reminds us that last year his Magazine won an annual fiction prize and says that the Best writers in the world publish in this is quite though it begs the which is that the protesters Arent protesting the Best writers in the they Are to say it again that in Playboy that made it another Way to put it is that if one were to take the whole of the serious con tent Over the last 10 years of Seg regate and stick it Between the covers the Atlantic or or the saturday these publications would not be enjoying a circulation of 5 More like about what they have without the what Kretchmer it Al dont like to face up to is that Playboy is also a cultural and not a cultural statement obliquely the first decade or two of Playboy contained a protracted monthly essay by its Hugh in which he tirelessly assailed and mocked traditional moral views involving licit and illicit the proposed Playboy and for which signatures Are being solicited the american after More than 200 is working out just americans Are still free to to to think and act As they that what the american Experiment is All but you the american Experiment is not working out just the cur rent Issue of Newsweek Magazine announces that by the end of the decade As Many As on half of the children of Ameri Ca will be raised by single Between 1970 and illegitimate births in the White Community Rose from 6 percent to 11 and in the Black from 38 percent to 55 because they All read Playboy of course but it is unquestionably the Case that self indulgence me dec has a great Deal to do with the Fragil Ity of personal Wanton like Wanton booze or Wanton idleness or Wanton Breeds undesirable among them but also broken and broken Homes Breed things like neglected children and drug addition the Stigmata of modern most emphatically not what the american Experiment is All it is hardly playboys exclusive responsibility that this shoud be but we have travelled a Long distance from Nathaniel who awarded a Scarlet letter to to Hugh who thinks adultery is Good Plain american wholesome fun and takes Pride in his Magazine As the principal architect of the sexual i add that i have frequently writ ten for As i would write for any journal that addressed 5 million and i gave a straightforward answer to the question Why i did feeling As i in a Playboy interview published 15 years i write for i because it is the fastest Way to communicate with my 17yearold Universal press Syndicate