European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 12, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns David Broder the stars and stripes saturday. August 12, 1989 the press deserves of be Rof ced Over fhe coals one of the perverse rules of be Havior of he Washington press corps is our tendency to savor being told secrets while ignoring what is on the Public re Cord. Eight years ago there was a huge juror when William Greider published the previously private views of budget director David Stockman on the perils of the fiscal policy he had helped create and move through Congress earlier that year. Stockman s phrases his Obser vation for example that the hogs were really feeding when the special interest lobbies finished with the tax Bill Cre ated a sensation. Stockman had made the comments in what were originally off the record one on one conversations with Greider. The Man who now holds Stockman s Job As director of the office of manage ment and budget Richard g. Darman late last month sounded an equally urgent note of alarm about the selfishness of fiscal policy. But in contrast he caused scarcely a Ripple. Darman s mistake was that he did t leak his views to a single reporter but stood up and delivered them of Al places at the National press club. If you want to be ignored by most of the press apparently the place to go is the National press club. Despite our deafness what he had today is every bit As important As Stock Man s 8-year-old warning that the tax and spending decisions of president Rea Gan s first year had opened up the Prospect of unending deficits and the slow erosion of our economic Independence. Indeed the Darman speech can be reads Stockman ii another warning from the Man in the Best position to know of the peril of our current course of policy. Darman called the deficit one More symptom or a cultural impatience an unrestrained appetite for satisfying immediate wants immediately that recalled  it is he said a formula for trouble and Borders dangerously on  in our Public policy he said we Ellen Goodman vi1990 consume today As if there were no to  the evidence despite claims of Progress in Nar rowing the budget deficit achieved largely through phony bookkeeping de vices the Public debt this year is expected to climb past the $3 trillion Mark. Interest payments on that debt have risen to is percent of the budget almost$180 billion that As Darman said buys the future nothing and. Buys the pre sent nothing More than the ability to keep its borrowing game  the interest payments and the debt arc far higher if you use honest account ing methods which the government has chosen not to do. Indeed said Darman the Trust funds for social Secu Rity medicare and other Transfer pay ments that pretend to hold surpluses for future beneficiaries in fact hold Bil Lions of dollars in unfunded Lous. These arc a Little Surprise for the workers of tomorrow left by the Consumers of  those arc but two items in the Bill of particulars he offered. It is too Long for summary Here but it amply proved his Contention that collectively we arc engaged in a massive backward Robin Hood transaction robbing the future to give to the  it took some courage for Darman to say this while serving in an administration whose motto remains the Bush Cam. Pain song refrain Don t worry. Be  it would be More admirable i Darman were prepared to set Forth publicly the Clear implications of the pattern to which he has pointed. But in a meeting with reporters a few Days after his speech Darman ducked and dodged on budget policy questions. He suggested that the deficit might again be Cut below the magnificently elastic Gramm Rudman Hollings targets with out new revenues and defended the administration s Shell game scheme for keeping the multimillion Dollar Cost of the savings and loan bailout off Bud  it would be Nice if Public servants As smart As Darman were also 100 percent consistent and principled. If he were he would be pointing out that the needs he clearly identifies cannot be financed so Long As the budget deficit sops up private savings and inhibits Federal spending. These needs include an improved Educa Tion system the repair and modernization of our transportation system an in crease in the research and development investments on which our economic and technological advantage has rested and the reassertion of America s leadership in space. But Darman s refusal to Cross the to and Dot the i s docs not excuse the press inattention to the obvious implications of his analysis. We in the press have been criticized and rightly for ignoring the inspector general s Public reports about the fraud waste and mismanagement i Reagan s department of housing and Urban development. The costs of the Hud scandals arc Small potatoes com pared to the risks in the fiscal policy to Ward which Darman like Stockman be fore him has directed attention. There is no excuse for ignoring them. Washington Pott writers group now eyeing abortion Issue to build a Winner St. Paul Minn. Do not look Here for lovers of lost causes. The women who convened at the National women s political caucus the officeholders and the wannabes Are not trying to find a Way out of the two party system but a Way in and up. Two weeks ago the National organization for women gathered its troops in Cincinnati in an Atmo sphere charged with frustration and anger Over the recent supreme court decision limiting abortion rights. The now convention ended in a spontaneous combustion a Call to explore the founding of a third party of women s own making. Since then the other groups have been trying to put out the fire that threat ens to Burn up their Unity and Energy. But in St. Paul feminists fuelled by the same deep concerns looked to politics rather than polemics. They talked in phrases that were More practical than passionate. How do i feel about a third party for women responded Lena Guerrero a state representative from Texas. Of about the same Way i d feel if hispanics called for a third party. I think our Energy should be focused on How you win an  it was a sentiment echoed by Wpc women As they attended workshops on fund raising and Media and strategy sessions the nitty Gritty of elections. In deed Ron Brown the chair of the democratic party was preaching to the convened when he told caucus members. "1 Don t have time anymore for feel Good politics. That s the kind of politics where you say i feel Good but i lost. I m interested in feeling Good and  winning was on the minds of the Wpc the Politi Cal Arm of the women s movement As it celebrated its 18th birthday. The leaders devised a strategy targeted to recruit and support pro Choice women to defeat anti abortion legislators in 10 key states. As outgoing chair Irene Natividad said. We re not going to gel mad we re going to get  younger women absent from the women s move ment have been galvanized by the threat to their right to decide. Indeed Bella Abzug. A founding Mother of the caucus said that abortion is the Vietnam of this  it s an Issue that has the Power to create a new cohort of activists. Older women As Well Many who drifted away from movement politics have come Back. Some carry with them a sense of frustration at having to re fight old Battles but also of determination. Indeed the buzzword of the convention was Cvita  the Wpc like other pro Choice groups has received new infusions of Money Energy commit ment. If the Battlefield for Legal abortion is the Legislatures then electoral politics is where the action is. The new caucus chair Sharon Rodin a native of Iowa who has not Only done political Grunt work in Texas but worked with teen age pregnancy in Virginia considers  to be taking the Helm at this moment. The politics of abortion rights she says gives us an Issue that activate people. We already Sec it bring people out to meetings saying i be never been involved before what can i do " but there arc also dangers. Eleanor Holmes Norton warned in an eloquent speech reproductive Freedom must have our priority. But we must avoid the single Issue Mon maniacal approach of the anti Abor Tion  this is no time she said to forget the other issues facing women and families especially those in poverty. There is danger As Well of playing the single Issue badly. Candidates at every level male and female will be called on to articulate their position on abortion rights. The pro life troops have been at this for years. From the looks of at least one Media workshop pro Choice candidates Are still learning How to make the Issue work for them. Few americans want the political process to be dominated by discussions of Conception and viability of rape and incest. National attitudes toward abortion arc volatile and deeply ambivalent. The candidates who can Frame the Issue As mainstream the Side that can define the terms of the debate will not Only Cap Ture Public opinion but government. And the course May Well be set by the 1990 elections. So this is not the time for a feel Good and doomed crusade of frustrated outsiders. In St. Paul they chose instead to plot the beginnings Ofa winning  Post Wirtur soup v the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoon son this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the Clews of the stars and stripes or the United slates government.,