European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 2, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes monday. March 2,1987 columns George will Reagan paying for Lazy management style with less than lightning like promptness the president will on wednesday respond to the Tower com Mission 10 which he should feel deep gratitude. It focused discussion on How nil management style produced what Cornier sen John Tower Calls the Iran Contra  both characterizations arc too kind. There Are two senses in which the Pri Mary problem was nol the president s management  first no managerial wizardry could have altered the fact that the policy Selling arms to Iran then bartering them for Noeages was self indulgent Folly that could neither be defended nor kept secret. Second reference to Reagan s management style obscure the fact that the style reflects a character trait. That Trail is a grave flaw. In sterner Ages which spoke of sin the flaw was consid ered one of the seven deadly sins. It is sloth nowadays known As laziness. His management style required from him an energetic insistence on Quality in the people around him and he lacked that insistence. But that Lack is a form of laziness remember that then chief of Laft James Baker and then trea sury Secretary Donald Regan together cooked up their Swap of jobs and Reagan languidly accepted it self indulgence is if not a form of Lazi Ness certainly a Cousin of t. Reagan has been self indulgent when confronted by aides failures the departure of Donald Regan came in Bis of i Sweet time More than three months late that was a debilitating result of the self indulgence of a presi Dent who would rather not put himself through the unpleasantness of demonstrating thai Uherc arc penalties for failure Tower s characterization of the Iran con Ira affair is an aberration is Only partly Correct. True the affair was an aberration in the sense that it does not typify the general Tenor and record of the administration in All spheres of policy. However in another sense it was Dpi an aberration it is part of a pattern visible even before it became vivid during the Nick Daniloff spy Swap debacle and the Iceland Summit. The careless and intellectually dishonest handling of the Daniloff a air James Reston Nancv cohere to the rest of/vet1 denying there was a Deal denying that the Swap that the Deal produced was a Swap reflected self indulgence. Rea Gan was indulging himself in the pleasure he takes from winning the release of hos Lages. As in the Iran affair he allowed his personal preoccupation with hostages to control Public policy. The Hasty slovenly preparation for the Summit in Iceland last october was Evi Dence of a laziness that was evident two october earlier. Remember Reagan s alarmingly confused performance in the first debate with Waller Mondale it was then said in exculpate on that Reagan had been too industrious that he had been Ovet pre Pard by a staff that bludgeoned him with too much information. But that happens when a politician puts himself like so much inert Putty in the hands of handlers and docs so because he will not take the trouble to decide precisely what he wants to say and a Reagan s response to the weakness of the Mondale Challenge was a vacuous Campaign. It in turn produced a second term that was sputtering along on Only a few cylinders even before the Iran con Ira debacle caused the transmission to disintegrate. It is Clear there were Many important things that Reagan was not lot and that he was Content not to be told. Further More Here were things Fie was told but did not absorb or did not grasp their significance. Those failures reflect the Tow level of Energy Reagan was investing they also reflect poorly on Bis two most experienced colleagues Caspar Wein Berger and George Schuliz. Those two Are he aides most a Nirol to National Security policy making and most experienced in governance. They arc especially culpable for distancing themselves self indulgently and even petulantly from a policy they disapproved. They should have raised the roof until Reagan understood what he now understands the consequences of the inevitable exposure of his policy by his actions and inaction since november Reagan has put upon himself a heavy Burden of  must prove he is still interested in being president As he contracted with the american people id be until 1989, otherwise there soon will be corrosive comparisons to the last months of Wood Row Wilson s presidency. Again what is being tested in these next difficult Days is his character not his capacities. His capacities arc sufficient when a wills he use of hem. Sen Ted Kennedy d-mass., was among congressional leaders who met Wilh Reagan last week to discuss among other things Job training. Kennedy says hat on that subject it is a bum rap to say Reagan is inattentive. Kennedy says Reagan was More familiar with the de tails than half the members of the Rele vant Senate committee. The question is where is inc Ronald Reagan who in and after the North car Olina primary of 1976, found inner fountains of fire and fought Back from the Edge of political extinction where is the Reagan who after defeat in the 1980 Iowa caucuses reached deep into himself for reservoirs of comb aliveness where is the Reagan of the air traffic controllers strike the protracted first term fights for his budget and lax priorities the liberation of Grenada the punishment of Libya the question president Reagan must answer this week is this where inc roil of him Wuinn Loi foil Witon of nip Baker selection changes atmosphere in capital in picking Howard Baker of Tennessee to be his chief of staff president Reagan May also have chosen his successor Tor by this Jingle stroke he has changed the Atmo sphere in Washington raised the Prospect for bipartisan cooperation in both Domestic and foreign policy and transformed the presidential election of 1988. This May be saying too much for Howard Baker since he says he is not a candidate but if members of Congress had the Power to appoint the politician Best qualified to be the Neft president of the United slates they would probably choose Hie Little Man from Tennessee. Much will depend of course on How Reagan him self reacts to the fair and judicious but severely critical report of the Tower commission s findings on his mis judgments of the iranian arms Deal. Is acted wisely and quickly in replacing Don Regan with Baker As soon As inc report was published and we will know More when Reagan addresses Hie nation this week whether he intends 10 let Baker be Baker or expects him to fallow Regan s policy of letting Reagan be Reagan. If however the president really wants to gel on to the problems of the future with nonpartisan support in his next two years. Baker can help him in what obviously will be a most difficult last. Al Casl Baker will change the mood. There has always been something fantastic and exaggerated a oui the Reagan Regan White House. The president could t even have a Normal great fall like any other Kumploy dumpty it had to be a helluva crash for him everything seemed True but the facts and Regan egged him on. There was something bizarre and even weird about All this both unimaginable and inevitable. Reagan tried to balance the budget by cutting taxes and bring peace on Earth by invading the stars. Washington always knew he could t keep on floating along like this without visible Means of support but it was t prepared for this free fall to disaster. Given a Chance. Baker is Likely to change the ques Tion and open the doors for he is above All a practical Man More concerned with the Public Trust than with Public opinion with building coalitions across party lines than with ideology or even partisan advantage. No doubt this will trouble inc Righi Wing zealots in his party who concentrate on culling axes and bashing communists. Ideology aside however Baker will Wani to know if the policies work and on present evidence of inc budget deficit the Trade deficit and the stale of . Policy Wilh the russians and inc allies they arc nol working now. Ii does t follow of course however Well lie does that this Wilt pitch Baker into tie presidential race. In fact in will take him right out of in for the foreseeable future for he Wil have to scrap whatever political organization he now has and  on his while House Job. But if he does that Job Between now and the Republican nominating convention much May change. Per haps the most important function of a Public servant in a free and democratic society is to preserve in one Ness while he guides the Battles thai Divide it. Baker is obviously and intuitively qualified to do this without rancor gathering Trust because he gives it and working through the tangles of government be cause he believes in it. He has been in eclipse since he resigned As re publican Leader of the Senate bul he now will be As much in the limelight As he chooses to be. He has Good personal relations Wilh Secretary of state Shultz whose Job he once coveted and with the support of the president and inc congressional Leaden he May even be Able to put humbly dumpy Back together again. He has been summoned in this crisis because he can be a restorer of order and serenity after years of ideological turmoil and faction. If he succeeds in Eliji assignment or even if he makes a difference that in visible to inc people it is at least conceivable that he could be drafted for higher service As Dwight Eisen Hower was in 1952. After All the Competition is nol All ilm formidable in either parly. Reagan will not be in inc race and maybe by then even Iran will be no More than a shameful  Tom Nurs Selvin