European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 25, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes tuesday november 25, 1986 William Safire  Reagan Cut losses by admitting Iran Deal an error three headaches demand attention 1. The while he headache the truth is Loo awful to admit Ronald Reagan condemn or of desert one Basher of Qadhafi exemplar of tall standing turned out to be a softy on terrorism the geopolitical excuse offered now that the ran som was a plan to influence Post Khomeini Iran it a feeble cover up. Robert Mcfarlane first approached the Reagan Campaign in the summer of 1980 with an iranian to Tow who proposed to deliver our hostages to Reagan rather than president Carter thereby swinging the . Election. The Reagan representatives properly recoiled but Mcfarlane has had iranian held hostages on the brain Ever since. If Reagan had chosen to admit that hostage Dicker ing was the reason for his iranian arms shipments his secret finding deferring notification would not have caused much trouble with Congress but by creating the Alibi of a secret foreign policy initiative and Intelli gence operation the president is now in the position of having avoided lawful oversight and offended comity. The foam of High strategy poured Over the Public Opin Ion firestorm has created a lingering political night Mare. 2. The Republican headache. Where is George Bush in Alt this the president s chief crisis manager a for Mer Cia director was surety aware that our support of Iran would induce the saudis to double Cross the iraqis by raising Oil prices that event was devoutly wished by Bush supporters in Texas. Yet in All the distancing Bush seems most Distant of All. Was the vice president aligned with secretaries Shult and Weinberger in opposition to the arms hypocrisy or did he stand with the Mcfarlane Poindexter Casky crowd appealing to the president s sentimentality if loyalty to Reagan is George Bush s big shtick now is the time for the vice president to Comelo his Aid at whatever Cost to his own popularity. Thai James Reston is what vice presidents ire for. Yel any identification with either the hypocrisy or its defense to told Tail the potential candidate in 1988, and that fear h what causes Many Republican temples to Pound. 3. My Ernul in Dakhe what is a right Wing Pun Dit to do when he finds himself singing Bass in the shrill chorus of Jimmy Carter George co Over King Hussein Miry Mcgrory and assorted mullahs Media Biggie and blame America firster denouncing Ranald Reagan my natural place is on the burning deck next to the bleeding Captain. It is one thing for right wingers to Zap the president for slouching toward Reykjavik and betting the company in an All night strategic poker game but when he is wounded and his White House staff paralysed and unwilling to walk the Nec Essary Plank then his old supporters Are Well advised to eschew easy derision and offer sympathetic advice. The president should Stop trying to Coyer up the hostage Ransom by calling it a strategic initiative. That won t Fly because h a is untrue and b offers investigating democrats and doves a club with Whichelo Masti the administration for months. Being presi Dent Means not having to say you re sorry but neither should a president be forced to defend the indefensible. What then to do drop the Oul of character Poindexter the most disaster prone Admiral since husband Kimmel ignore the foolishness from the frightened Casey crowd to replace Shultz with Wein Berger you need Secretary Shutlz now As president Nixon needed Secretary Kissinger and try to change inc subject. Longtime admirers and occasional critics will help. We will remind each other that Reagan stopped Infra Tion and brought Down interest Rales to culled the Law of the sea treaty turned the tide in Central America and introduced the space defense idea that makes Dis armament possible All Over the objections of those who now gleefully try to drag him Down. So what if Ronald Reagan doubled the deficit and turned Squishy soft on hostage Ransom my Button says nobody s  and Luck can turn the Ayatollah could die the Young Shah take Over and Ardest Zahedi come to Washington to say Ronald Reagan s initiative did it All. Therefore i will alleviate my headache by support ing my local president wherever possible. A lame Duck is belter than a dead Duck. Reagan must plan future not defend the past the main question Here now is not How president Reagan got into this latest mess in Iran bul Howe s going to come out of Ilas an effective Leader of the nation and the Alliance. Reagan will be president for two Long years in which what he decides or fails to decide will certainly influence the life of the american people and even of the world during the last 14 years of the Century. Accordingly the immediate problem is nol How to blame him but How to help him and eventually How to replace him Wilh somebody who knows nol merely Hov to gel elected but How to govern and Lead a nation and defend a civilization. Clearly he needs help. His performance recently nonnuclear arms at the Iceland Summit on misinform ing the nation on Libya on arming the contras in Nicaragua and the mullahs in Iran has been alarmingly defective. And his Public defense of these antics has been painful and even embarrassing. He has not been getting the help he needs from his White House staff. They know his limitations belter than anybody else but in trying to replace him with their help they have doubled and redoubled his problems. So what 10 do Iran was nol a disaster bul merely a warning. The president is still the most popular actor on the political stage. His problem is not to de fend the past but to change the question and plan for the future. The democrats Don t have a clue about How to Deal with Iran and the Middle East nobody does but Reagan can l get their cooperation in his last two years by blaming them for his mistakes. And insisting thai he was right on everything and his critics were All wrong. His problem lies not Wilh his opponents but Wilh his friends. Secretary of slate George Shults has made Clear in Public that he did t agree with the president latest adventure in Iran. Nobody can remember a time when two former president have gone on National television to oppose the president on a major policy decision such As Iran the Way president Ford and Carter did last week. And suddenly and for the first time Public opinion m measured by the polls has begun to doubt the president s judgment. It is this switch in popular support that it now for the tint time worrying the president and nil staff. For six rela the american people have not had a political in butt kind of love affair with Ronald Rea Gan. But lately they have begun to wonder for be has not been leveling with them but deceiving ind even cheating them and the danger is that As in All love affairs they May now turn on him and make things even worse than they really Are. Shultz has sensed this danger and has been trying to reconcile the differences Between the while House and the stale department and Between inc president and the Congress. The while House staff however has nol seemed to understand the problem. The head of the National Security Council vice adm. John Poindexter. The author of the White House disinformation policy has been a disaster in his attempts to explain Grenada Libya and Iran to the Congress and inc press. So there is one View in Washington that looking to the future the White House staff should be changed and that to begin with Poindexter the fourth National Security adviser in six years should be granted a Long overdue retirement Donald Regan the while House chief of staff has been almost too Frank in Bis description of his work. Some of us he said the other Day Are like a shove brigade that follows a Parade Down main Street clean ing up. We took Reykjavik and turned what was really a sour situation into something that turned out pretty Well who was in that took this disinformation thing and managed to turn it who was in that took on this loss of the Senate and pointed out a few facts and managed to pull thai the answer is obvious. It was Donald Regan and Pat Buchanan and the rest of the administration s Gay deceivers who Wilh the president s approval or indifference created the worst crisis of Confidence in Washington Lince the Days of Richard Nixon. But the Central fact remains Ronald Reagan is the Only president we have and he can still turn Alt this around if he can Deal with the main problem of world attain the nuclear arms race with the russian he can no doubt restore the Confidence of the nation Between now and the end of the year by a change of attitude and a change of staff but he keeps insuring  he did in Iran in Iceland and in Nicaragua Wai right and everybody else was wrong. Unless that u chanted it will be a Long and tormented two Yean it the end of Ronald Reagan t presidency