European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 05, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes thursday december 5, 1985 columns David Broder battered but not bowed Weinberger stands firm trouble has been coming m for Secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger. The Wall Street journal one of it Sun Chesl editorial defenders of his policies wrote that he is increasingly perceived to be the Man on the fringe in an administration in which his influence once was enormous he went through a Stormy Senate armed services committee hearing where pro defense senators As Barry Good Walcer. R-ari/., and Sam Nunn. Uga. Be rated him for being unresponsive. Two Days later the president of the United slates with whom Weinberger has worked closely for almost 20 years left him behind in Washington while other senior National Security advisers flew off with to the soviet american Summit in Geneva. A Day later. Weinberger read thai a senior official on air Force one had accused the Pentagon of a blatant attempt to undermine the because of the teak the previous Day of a letter from Weinberger to Reagan. In the letter Weinberger urged the president to make no concessions in Geneva that might limit the ability of the United states to respond to soviet violations of previous arms control agreements Weinberger dented that the pct Igon a inc source of the leak but once again he was portrayed As being Odd Man out on inc Reagan team. In the midst of All this. I talked with Weinberger in lunch with three other reporters and was struck by inc combination of weariness and doggedness in he face he shows the world. His Lone was often defensive As when he said of his exclusion from Geneva by Reagan i have no feeling thai i m entitled to a share of his time. I m Here to give him whatever assistance he thinks would be but he was relentless in pressing his arguments for scepticism of the soviets and full Speed ahead on the . Military buildup including research on Star or the strategic defense initiative. Whit has happened to Weinberger in the year has the elements of a classic tragedy. He has been undermined not by his shortcomings but by the excess of his dedication to the Mission Reagan gave him. For those of us who covered Weinberger in his earlier incarnations As budget director and health education and welfare Secretary in past administrations it Lias been Clear that he approached inc Pentagon assignment in a different Way from the other jobs. In them he was sceptical critical and always Independent a smart p Kilician deliberately keeping hib distance from the bureaucrats he was managing. At the Pentagon he has embraced the services build up programs and promoted them with the Fervour of a convert. It often has seemed As if he viewed inc nation s Security As a personal responsibility which no one could or would share with him. The sceptical manager be came the uncritical advocate. Sen. Carl , d-mich., an armed services com Mittee member says he definitely has this Churchil Lian Altitude that somehow he is the Savior of Western letter Armod Hawx fairs West civilization. Basically he s cried Wolf one time too Levin is a frequent critic Bui i talked to four Republican and two strongly pro defense democratic Mem Bers of he Senate and mouse armed services commit tees and All of them comic led in one Way or another on Weinberger s inflexibility sen. Dan Quayle a and. Says me still has a hard Core support group on the Hill including myself bul there s no double that this congressional relationship has deteriorated Over the years. He s a Tough disciplined individual but he finds it exceedingly difficult to com Promise As Congress would when rising deficits and evidence of wasteful procurement practices caused Many members of con Gress to take a second look at the rapid defense buildup Weinberger just put his head Down and charged. Congress is truly concerned about the Pentagon pro Cess Structure and bureaucracy says rep. Jim courier r-n.j., and Hose arc areas where Cap has not got he feels he s morally bound to his original objectives sen. William Cohen a Maine. Remarks and any Compromise is at the expense of the National inter est in his he just automatically adopted the position of rep resenting the four services says Kep. Pavc Mccurdy Dok a. He never seemed to question them or Lake Chirpe. Up Here he never would indicate his priorities. It was always take it or leave despite the damage to his reputation on Capitol Hill both critics and supporters believe Weinberger will sol Dier on. Sen. John Warner. R-va., one of the support ers says i Chi Lic Secretary Mill has thai level of Confidence thai will enable him to carry Forth his re that May be so Reagan s a Fleet Ion for Weinberger is Well documented. But others in inc while House would Noi be at All reluctant to throw him overboard. They find a dangerous Strain of Caltry in Weinberger s doggedness even though he is dog cd on behalf of Reagan s own original goals and principles. The prag maoists find his consistency inconvenient. In his own eyes Weinberger has Kepi the Faith while others less pure on Capitol Hill and in the White House have wavered. He stands guard battered but proud Over his own dwindling reputation. C poll writ in croup Carl Rowan Perry Schubert give Hope to titties born losers the fatties and the weaklings the ugly ducklings and born losers of inc world can take heart there s proof around that they too can make it big if Only they believe in themselves More than 300 pounds of proof in the form of William the refrigerator Perry of the Chicago bears football team. Hollywood style proof in the form of Eric Schubert a twice rejected kicker who was yanked from a s36-a-Day teach ing Job into a hero s place Iid the new York giants football team. The Saga of Perry is Balm for the wounded psyches of All who run from diet fighting obesity and the knowledge hat slender people View them As weak and Slothful. I Hope thousands of teachers arc telling millions of youngsters that the Triumph of Eric Schubert is heart warming proof that dreamers must never give up. Schubert s Hopes of being a National football league hero seemed dead when the giants and new England patriots gave him tryouts and rejected him. Schu Bert look u Job leaching physical Educa Tion math and science at a High school which paid him an extra $1,000 to help coach the football team. But the Young Man nursed his dream every Day practice ing his kicking just in Case somebody called crying help when the Call came Schubert was t there to Lake it. He was chasing the pot at the end of another Rainbow out buying lottery tickets. But the following sunday dreamer Schubert was in a giants uniform and All he did was kick five Field goals to give his team a 22-20 Victory in a crucial struggle with the Tampa Bay buccaneers. it s next to nothing com pared with the Story of the i Don t know whether William Perry is called refrigerator because he is built like one. Or because he can clean one out As a snack. I do know that he grew up in Aiken s.c., grossly overweight and the butt of a thousand jokes. Still he wound up playing at Clemson University where coaches noticed that opposing backs could t run through him and it took so Long to run around him that the clock would run out. Perry was a plump .150 pounds at that Lime. Nil scouts said nobody As big As Perry could play pro Ball bul to i hair astonishment the bears drafted him in the first round. Bul when Perry showed up Afler a holdout inc fal dragging be Hind him the team s defensive coordinator declared publicly that the bears had wasted a draft that lit up the refrigerator. Perry has been a Monsler Al defensive tackle As inc bears won 12 straight games. But he has become a National hero by doing things 308-Pound tackles Aren t supposed to be Able to do. As a Blocker in front of All time great Walter Payton he sent would be tacklers flying like tenpin. As a Short yardage runner he crashed into the end zone like a Bull running through tissue paper. Then he added insulin to a lot of injury by squeezing his massive body through an assortment of Green Bay packers to of All things catch a ouch Down pass. Small wonder that general electric and Whirlpool arc bidding to get Perry to do refrigerator ads. Or that his Agcalis being deluged with big Noncy offers for the fat kid from Aikin to do endorse ments. Less wonder that whereas lbs had planned to show inc do Broil Chicago game to Only 11 Pyrc Cal of America in decided to show that contest to half the land and even featured Perry s Molher telling whal he cals. But there Are a couple of chilling aspects to this Story. The bears keep Dan gling big Money incentives in front of Perry to gel him to lose weight and his 120-Pound wife. Sherry has put him on a diet of baked Chicken vegetables and fruit. Why can t i Csc people understand thai even with a refrigerator if it Ain t broke Don t fix in Cinet America san Vicale
