European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 28, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes Tom Wicker questions remain on Bush s Iron Contra role so Short is the memory of Public and press that George Bush rolled through the week of his presiden tial nomination and out onto the Campaign Trail with out having to say a word about his part in the disastrous Ira Gate affair or display again his inability to remember much about it. A reminder is needed therefore that vice president Bush either was out to lunch and out of the Loop while the Reagan administration in its arms for hostages dealings with Iran c9ntradicted the admonitions of the task Force on terrorism that Bush supposedly headed or else he supported those ill advised dealings until they became Public and unpopular after which he claimed he could t remember doing so. Either Way the picture is neither pretty nor reassuring about Bush s fitness to be president despite his booming rhetorical Assurance in his new Orleans speech that he was the right Man to take Over. Fortunately the needed reminder is at hand in men of Zeal by Maine s Sens. William s. Cohen and George j. Mitchell a Republican and a Democrat respectively. They served together on the congressional committee that investigated the Iran Contra Contro Versy and in their new account of the Case devote succinct chapter co Pilot or passenger to what s known about Bush s part in the greatest fiasco of the Reagan administration. The vice president has maintained that hews aware of but not involved in the Iran arms sales George will and did not know that Secretary of state George shul Zand then Secretary of defense Caspar Weinberger were profoundly opposed to the idea. Bush further claims he did not even know that arms had been swapped for hostages contrary to the Public urgings of the Bush task Force on terrorism until dec. 20, 1986, when he was briefed by the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee. But records show Cohen and Mitchell remind us that Bush attended a White House meeting on aug. 6, 1985, at which the National Security adviser Robert Mcfarlane reported that Iran wanted 100 Tow mis Siles from Israel in Exchange for which four hostages would be  at that meeting Shultz called this a very bad idea and said the administration was falling into the arms for hostages  Bush was present on Jan. 6, 1986, when Reagan was briefed on a plan to Send 4,000 tows to Iran i Exchange for hostages and signed an intelligence find ing to make it possible. The next Day Jan. 7, As attested by White House records and testing by by Shultz adm. John Poindexter by then the National Security adviser and attorney general Edwin Meese Bush was present at another Iran arms Sale meeting. At that meeting Shultz later testified he expressed himself As forcefully As he could against the Deal. So did Weinberger. Bush said later he did t remember any strenuous objections but Shultz recalled that it was Clear to me by the time we went out that the president the vice president and the others All had one opinion and i had a different one and Weinberger shared  on Jan. 17, 1986, Bush was present at still another meeting when a second Iran arms sales finding was signed by Reagan. Of that meeting Poindexter wrote at the Bottom of a memo president was briefed ver Bally from this paper. Up Don Regan and Don Fortier were  on july 29, 1986, in Jerusalem Bush was briefed by Amiram Nir a special assistant to the israeli prime minister. A summary of the meeting was prepared by Craig Fuller Bush s aide who was present. The sum Mary published by the Tower commission and re printed almost in full in men of Zeal several time quotes Nir describing unmistakable arms for hostages arrangements. Bush said later he did t fully understand Nir though the Fuller summary is neither ambiguous no Complex. Is a Man to be trusted in the Oval office if he can t follow a straightforward briefing or remember intense and significant events or if he withholds the truth about his record if it can damage him politically the latter seems most Likely the Case. If i erred 1 erred on the Side of trying to get those hostages out of there Bush i cautiously told Dan rather on Jan. 25, 1988. How could he have done that if he did t know arms were being swapped for hostages c new York times Congress Likely to be the Winner in november a f it of it of fat x93s4ahkr%90499i79l5 so republicans have Learned from Ronald Reagan to look on the Bright Side of everything from deficits growth stimulated by them cures them to Gorbachev Good liberals come from Moscow not Boston. So republicans preaching what Reagan practices can say their presidential Campaign will recover from its Rocky Start. Reagan himself had an awful August in 1980 whence said among other interesting things that Trees cause pollution then arrived at a rally and found a tree decorated with this sign chop me Down before i kill  but this year both parties campaigns Are Likely to produce an anaemic president and therefore produce congressional government. Such government will be the result of a second consecutive vacuous election. In 1984, there barely was an election. There was a olympics and Bruce Springsteen s born in the Usa tour and in that celebratory atmosphere Reagan elevated Contentment to a political platform morning in America. Back and standing  the result Wasa landslide without a mandate and the reassertion of the National Norm congressional government. If in 1988 the Winner wins principally because he is not the other Guy then by 1992 the nation will have gone 12 years without a clarifying energizing Choice. With either Dukakis or Bush we re Apt to enter an Era of a heroic politics. It will be an Era More typical of american experience than either the Reagan Era or the Kennedy Era that Dukakis invokes so insistently. Under either Dukakis or Bush few americans Areat to regard the presidency heroically As Many did under say Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy. Few will regard it As a tone setting institution imparting fundamental direction to nation Al life. Conservatives with their jeffersonian impulses May say splendid. That role is not for government let alone the Central government. But Hamilton a source of a More sensible conservatism warned that Energy in the executive is a prerequisite of Good government. A weak presidency does not produce Sweet passivity in Washington and the Blooming of 100 Flowers of local control. Rather it produces congressional ascend Ancy. That Means the ener vation of foreign policy and in Domestic affairs the Primacy of parochial interests at the expense of National aspirations. Try to imagine either Dukakis or Bush going Over the Heads of con Gress to Appeal directly to the people. Conservatives forgetting their enjoyment of Rea Gan s Success doing that May say Fine. We oppose Plebs scutary uses of the presidency. But again they should consider the real alternative. Kcw1y we. It has been increasingly visible since Reagan s 1986 failure to hold Republican control of the Senate. The alternative is government by a fractious committee of 535. Reagan s presidency has demonstrated the Perisha ble nature of even a real mandate. Reagan s mandate was worn out by september 1981 and Only a series of unplanned events made it last that Long. He was Gallant when shot. A supreme court vacancy enabled him to nominate a woman. Two libyan fighter planes let him act like Teddy Roosevelt. The striking air traffic con trollers let him act like Truman. Even so his tax and spending cuts the Crux of his Agenda barely passed that summer. How evanescent would Dukakis or Bush s Sway Over Congress be the presidency is so prominent in National life and the tendency is so Strong to confuse prominence with Power americans forget that the presidency is an inherently meaning constitutionally weak office. There is Little a president can do on his own. What he can do is move the country by the Force of his words or the pull of his personality and by so doing move or at least inhibit Congress. The Power of the presidency varies greatly More than that of say the Power of the British prime min ister with the personal attributes of the occupant tithe office. The Power of Congress to initiate and Block action a Power increasingly radiated in new Laws Only expands. It expands most rapidly when presidential influence contracts. The 1988 election looks like a recipe for a Sharp contraction. We have two Low voltage candidates. On of them Dukakis talks with lawyerly wariness about his plans. Bush praises the pledge of allegiance and promises not to furlough killers. So even More people than usual Are melancholy about the Choice. They May see congressional government coming. Perhaps they should reason As did Sam Weller  s servant Well it s no use talking about it now. It s Over and can t be helped and that s one Consolation As they always says in Turkey when the Cut the wrong Man s head  Washington Post writers group