European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 14, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Raily ill Agazine coming up an insider presidency by David Hoffman Washington Post or the first time in 12 years the Federal government is passing into the hands of a president who is a product of the system rather than a crusader against it. Unlike his two predecessors president elect George Bush did not Campaign for the White House As an outsider to Washington lambasting wayward bureaucrats along the Potomac. Instead Bush has thrived in the Federal establishment and has served Many of its institutions for which he still expresses great respect. This could be an important Factor in Bush s presidency. It could Lead to Success because Bush has Learned firsthand Many of the intricate and sometimes obscure ways of government from the Workings of the foreign service to congressional staffs. But it also could Lead to failure if Bush allows himself to become a prisoner of Washington s Beltway trapped by the seemingly interminable conflicts within it. Even though he has had Long experience in government an environment where information is precious and perishable Bush is sometimes obsessed with secrecy according to associates who work with him. For instance he often appears bedevilled by leaks in the news Media of his decisions or activities As was the Case when he grew angry Over reports of Cabinet selections before they were announced. Presidents Carter and Reagan ran successfully against the unwieldy grand Bazaar of the Federal government promising crusades to clean things up but finding once they arrived that it was t As simple As they had thought. For example Reagan promised to wipe out two departments and eliminate waste fraud and abuse in government programs. Once in office he failed to deliver on these promises but he never stopped harping on the government As the problem. In his final scheduled news conference dec. 8, Reagan offered the bureaucracy one last insult. Asked about the Long term prospects for the reforms begun by soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev Reagan said Well i realize and i think we All should that he is battling a bureaucracy because whether it s a russian bureaucracy or one of our own the first Rule of George Bush a Veteran in the ways of government. Bureaucracy is protect the  in a similar vein Reagan remained the self styled outsider in his valedictory speech on Domestic policy decrying the Washington Colony for being out of touch with the nation. By contrast Bush has gone out of his Way in recent weeks to signal that his presidency will be different. He said the people he wants to see first in the morning Are career government workers the analysts from the Central intelligence Agency. They will bring him their daily briefings directly rather than filtering them through a High level appointed official the National Security adviser As with Reagan. When he named Veteran foreign service officer Thomas r. Pickering to be ambassador to the United a meaner America by Leonard silk new York times Hen he takes office president elect George Bush will presumably begin working toward his vision of a Kinder gentler America. But recently the plight of the homeless was underscored As bitter cold swept the Northeast and the annual Winter count of the Frozen to death began. The situation raises the question of whether the . Is instead becoming a meaner nation whose social ills Are inextricably tied to its deepening economic divisions. Why does the United states have the highest rate of poverty in the Industrial world the evidence is difficult to interpret. Data collected by the census Bureau indicate that the Gap Between Rich and poor in the United states has widened in the past decade. According to an analysis of census data by the economic policy Institute a Washington research Center identified with Liberal positions the average family income of the poorest fifth of the population declined by 10.9 percent adjusted for inflation from 1979 to 1986. The average family income of the richest fifth of the nation increased by 13.8 percent. Many economists Liberal and conservative agree that the cuts in social programs tax cuts and the mixture of big budget deficits and tight Money brought about by the Reagan administration were All factors in Trie widening rift Between Rich and poor. But even after extensive studies the essential causes of poverty remain obscure. Today after eight years of scaling Back the problems of poverty and inequality Are again on the nation s plate in some ways in More virulent form than a Quarter Century before said Robert h. Haveman director of the University of Wisconsin s la Follette Institute of Public affairs. John l. Palmer and Isabel v. Sawhill of the Urban Institute a bipartisan research Center said in a recent report that along with slow economic growth in the Early and mid-1980 a there was a major redistribution of income from lower income families especially the poorest toward the most  it is a trend that began a decade before Reagan took office. It appears linked to the slowing of productivity growth in the 1970s. Whatever its causes the productivity slowdown exacerbated the problems of what Lester Thurow Dean of the Sloane school of management of the Massachusetts Institute of technology Calls the Zero sum society in which gains for the Rich mean absolute losses for the poor. After some decline in the late 1960s, poverty is As High today As it was before president Johnson s War on poverty began. Some conservative economists continue to argue that the Johnson Era social programs ultimately did More harm than Good and that there is Little government can do to compensate for the damage that results from structural changes in the Economy. Yet some Battles were won and there is Strong evidence that the demographic characteristics of poverty have changed. Nations Bush made a Point of saying i have a High regard for the foreign service which has been somewhat demoralized in recent years. The Choice of Pickering for the . Post came As a counterpoint to Reagan who put More political appointees in diplomatic jobs than any president since John f. Kennedy. While Reagan came to office with Many who had never been in government before Bush s appointments have reflected his Affinity for government. Most of his Cabinet choices have already served in their current jobs or High ranking positions in the Nixon Ford or Reagan years when Bush got to know them. George Bush is not anti government in fact he is a government person and i think he is appointing people who Are basically government people said Alan k. Campbell who served As Carter s personnel chief. According to those who have worked closely with Bush he comes to the White House with a fundamentally different philosophy than Reagan had toward managing the government. Reagan always fashioned himself a citizen politician who was reluctantly being pressed into temporary service in government and Reagan said he wanted As his top appointees businessmen from the outside who fit the same Mold rather than bureaucrats from within. Reagan imposed a Federal hiring freeze shortly after taking office and pursued reductions in Force with a goal of slashing the bureaucracy by thousands of positions. Reagan has often described the Federal establishment As unnecessarily bloated and he succeeded in squeezing the Domestic agencies while rapidly expanding the military. Bush shares Reagan s aversion to big government on the Domestic Side. In the Campaign last year he proposed Only modest expansions in the Federal role part of his theme of a Kinder gentler nation in education environment and child care. But Bush sees his role As different from Reagan s. Instead of ridiculing the people who run government Bush celebrates the Honor of Public service. He considered it a major part of his Job in 1976 to repair the tattered morale at the Central intelligence Agency whose employees he has often described As the Best civil servants he has Ever known. Vacationing at the grand tetons National Park two Summers ago Bush went fishing with the Park Ranger. He signed autographs and chatted with the Crew of a coast guard Cutter protecting his Oceanside estate in Kennebunkport Maine. The most striking change has been the decline of poverty among the elderly. In 1959, 35.2 percent of the aged fell below the poverty line. In 1986, Only 12.6 percent of the elderly were poor. Another partial Victory has been the reduction of the income Gap Between Blacks and Whites in some instances. In 1960, Black men earned about 31 percent As much As Whites but by 1986 this ratio had increased to 73 percent according to Haveman. Yet by other measures the income Gap has expanded in the last decade. In a recent report the Center for budget and policy priorities a non partisan research group found that the median family income of Blacks had declined in the last decade from 59 percent of that of Whites to 56 percent. Among two Parent families the Black median was 84 percent in 1987. The picture is much worse for Black families headed by women. The Center estimated that female headed Black families had an average income of Only $9,710 in 1987, compared with $17,018 for White families headed by a woman. With the increasing number of single Parent households children have come to have the highest poverty rate in the nation. In the mid-1960s poverty among children was no worse than for the population As a whole. Today children Are 50 percent More Likely to be living in poverty than is the population As a whole. Most disturbing of All today is the growth of the so called  this group is characterized by homelessness Long term unemployment and drug and alcohol addiction. The stars and stripes Page 13