European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 26, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse A Clinton will be key to inside Power struggle almost 30 years ago in the . Embassy in sol gon the lives of a Young army lieutenant a Lex Aspin a and three very Junior foreign service officers in i hair i f20s a Anthony Lake Peter turnoff nil Frank Wisher a touched one another. Today the four sit at the Pinnacle of Power and to Pele or with Secretary of slate Warren m. Christopher form two interlocking triangles that will command America s National Security machinery. In the top Triangle two rum ply policy intellectuals a Aspin Leslie h. Gelb and Lake the National Security adviser a will vie with each i. Other to shape strategy while Christopher essentially counsels and reacts. In the second Triangle the three old1 pals a Lake undersecretary of state design at turnoff and undersecretary of defense designate Wisner a bureaucratic Black Bells All will control interdepartmental deliberations and tamp Down internal Fuji its will not split these triangles into the usual Hawks and doves conservatives and liberals instead the five will Man Euver in Cvar changing coalitions of activists and caution ers. One mix might want to get Tough in Iraq another in Bosnia. The question Mark in the picture will be president Clinton. As a history Buff Clinton will discover loud Lus senior Triangle will resemble the Robert Mcnamara Doan Rusk and Mcc Korge Ihu uly team of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations Mcnamara As defense Secretary was the activist and trying to run foreign policy out of the Pentagon a and often succeeding lie generally called the Tunc not Only on Vietnam but also on arms control and european and asian policy. Dundy the National Security adviser mainly played the honest broker and remained almost out of Public sight. From time to time he would strike with his own policy memo and carry the Day a hut few knew about it. Secretary of stale Rusk was not out to change the world. He did have some Strong views and sometimes objected to the goings on Mound him mostly Hwi Vor lib Quot Olf or l4ok hut. He Sun Luiu however. He said Quot of Vor of but primarily As i. The bureaucratic Lead on making policy and generally a a a Feml Foi a a self primarily As the president s adviser. He rarely took Bur Cauca a a a a a Quot a a a let the state department bureaus fend for themselves. An idea Uia. Snot Chine of staggering proportions judging from his paper deluge Over ids Hist 20 years As a congressman a will in Clinton s senior Triangle Aspin to a a it. Want to to the driving Force just like Mcnamara his old idol and Pentagon Boss. In the Mcnamara Mold he is building a High-1,0, team of activists who soon will to launching lightning bolts on everything from defense policy to democratization in Russia to economic policy Lake will want to be the main idea Man himself and from inside the White Alduse is better positioned to press his ease than Aspin. In any event he will be the one who personally shapes the consensus issues. He will be More activist than Bundy was but like him he will play an inside game a often presenting an opaque exterior. Christopher like Rusk has no burning policy Ciula. If Aspin and Lake agree he will Likely go Ong adding stylistic cautions and warnings if trolled he can Appeal to Clinton with whom he forged a Ose and avuncular relationship Over the last year his Power will Rise or fall on that relationship. Behind the scenes the Luke Tarnoff Wisner network will often be As important As the top Triangle these three Are quite capable of working out policy Imes themselves then Selling them to their respective Bosses. All three arc also first class operators Able and eager to do deals with Congress and manipulate the press. Their Power rests on their Mutual Trust Wheeli goes beyond heir shared Vietnam experiences. They also worked together intimately in Cyrus Vance s state department. All Are pragmatists. Wisner is the most conservative turnoff a curious amalgam of Liberal and septic and Lake ranges in Between. Whether the two Power triangles produce cautious or activist policy lines will depend on Clinton resident Kennedy handled his advisers with self Confidence and assertiveness. Lyndon Johnson was tentative about foreign policy. Clinton could turn out lobe either a or both. C Toto now York Lino president s activism Means big changes ahead Mike Feinsilber e tiie country is beginning to see what it got. It has put into the a a a Young politician who is full of ideas and playfulness who believes passionately in government and who says Quot i desperately want to make a lie showed what he meant on his third Day in office. With a few pen strokes he did what democrats in the House and Senate had been unable to do in 12 years a an about face in the government s policies toward abortion. The last two presidents did not Sec government As a useful Force in society the Way Bill Clinton believes in it. Ronald Reagan especially distrusted the institution he led. At every Chance he said that government was the problem not the solution. That a not Clinton s Credo. He May or May not be a Liberal political scientists will argue Over that jul there is no question that he is an activist. He wants to do. To be sure his inauguration week symbolism got stepped on by reality a a nomination gone suddenly sour a his first working Day in the White House but his shedding of the Baird nomination showed deftness even if none was shown in the failure to anticipate reaction to her employment of illegal aliens As household help Clinton Cut his losses accepted responsibility and plunged on. Plunging on May become his trademark. The country is not accustomed to hearing a president proclaim How he will a work my heart out Quot to make government work Wii at i Oikle hush four years ago said in his inaugural address sounded self constricting Quot our funds Are low.,. We have More will than Clinton said that the deficits Are daunting too but they won t Stop him Bush said Quot some see leadership As High drama and the sounds of trumpets calling. But i see history As a Book with Many a we have heard the trumpets a Clinton said. the word go Forth a that Kenne Dye que message underlay his Quot we have changed the on the Day after lie took the oath As the youngest president since John f. Kennedy and then played the saxophone at no fewer than live inaugural bulls Clinton threw open the White mouse doors a and let tie symbolism go Forth. He invited 2,500 or so citizens in for a handshake. He had hugs and pals on the shoulder and a Good word for everyone admiration for one Man s Handlebar Mustache and a Little boys ski jacket lie gathered his wife Ami Al and Tipper Core around a visitor named Stephanie anti serenaded her on her 12th birthday. Quot will you Ever forgive us Quot he apologized laughing die next Day without adding anything to the deficit he reversed his predecessors anti abortion policies. No longer would the government Iran abortion counselling in federally funded clinics abortions in military hospitals or the use of fetal tissue in medical research. No longer would it prohibit using foreign Aid Money for family planning programs or prevent imports ref kimh6, the French abortion Pill. And he sent out word that he will make Good on his Campaign pledge to drop the ban on homosexuals in the military services though not As prickly As Origi Midy foreseen. In another action full of symbolism tinfoil abolished the while mouse Council of competitiveness which had been an july let a project As vice president Bis instrument for leasing lie bureaucracy when it threatened to interfere will the marketplace. We Klong Union s message was that he Irma become Bead of the government Lor the purpose of governing. Quot let us work until my work is done Quot he said. In his Ina Gmal address he alluded to lire ideas of two presidents Thomas Jeller Soji s adv Ruy of Quot a Little rebellion now and their Quot though Clinton watered it Down to Quot dry Manlic change my Lime to Lime Quot and Franklin i. Roosevelt s tall for Quot hold to Pei Omnia Tion Quot but his most prophetic words May have been in a speech the Day before his inauguration to a favorite audience 150 of the nation s past present and incoming governors whose ranks he had just left. Quot i did not run for this Job just to warm the Seal Quot he told them Quot i desperately want to make a he asked them to Call him up and Tell trim when he was going astray. He asked Quot How Many books have we All read about a president in crisis when nobody picked up the plume who knew that president and loved him and cared about him and said you arc crazy in my opinion you should do x and not y 7&Quot Lipil Clinton will be doing x and a and a and b and c. One of Iris heroes is Winston Churchill who said Quot i have not become the King s first minister in order to preside Over the liquidation of the British Linton it is becoming Clear did no to become president not to preside. A i by a j i in jul j Lett it a a
