European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 8, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday july 8, 1994 commentary the stars and stripes Page 19 to understand the significance of the changeover at the White House decreed by president Clinton last week turn the clock Back 14 months to april 26, 1993. On that Day Leon Panetta director of the office of management and budget sat Down to lunch with reporters and proceeded to do that rarest of things in Washington. He told the truth. Clinton had been in office Only three months and Senate republicans in a unanimous show of muscle had humiliated him by forcing him to abandon his Short term economic stimulus plan. Panetta allowed As How that was just the beginning of the troubles lying in wait for the new1 president s legislative Agenda. The remaining pieces a did David s. Broder of the budget including the soon to be ditched Energy tax were in dire Straits he said. So was Aid to Russia. Ditto the North american free Trade agreement. To Salvage his Agenda Panetta said Clinton would have to a define his priorities More narrowly and do a better Job of enlisting Public support. Health care Reform then due to be introduced just a month later should be put on the Back Burner until these other measures had been passed. Panetta a Candor hit the White House like a missile. Briefly there was speculation that he might be fired but Clinton decided to treat it As a Case of momentary depression saying a i want to Buck him up. I done to want to take him to the As it turned out Panetta was not depressed he was Correct. The Clinton budget and economic plan squeaked through Congress months water with not a vote to spare in the House or Senate. Passing Naftal took a huge expenditure of presidential Energy and a massive Public relations Campaign. Health care was put off until the end of the year because the congressional system was staggering under the Load of even a pared Down cargo of Clinton priorities.-. And now 14 months later with another full Load of legislation hanging in the congressional balance and a perilous midterm election looming in november Clinton has turned to Panetta to organize a More effective White House. The decision to make Panetta the new chief of staff is timely and Wise. Whether it will be effective depends largely on Clinton a willingness to allow anyone to discipline the free form governing process he seems to presidents 1992 impulse to name his boyhood Friend Thomas a a Mack Mclarty As his first chief of staff was a like Many of the other first round White House personnel decisions a sign that he had not thought seriously about managing the presidency. Mclarty one of the most agreeable people the new administration brought to town had Only one asset a a lifetime of Palling around with Clinton. He did not know government he did not know Washington and he had Little Confidence in his own political instincts. With the president inclined to dabble in everything and resolve few issues quickly the White House became a swirling mess of endless meetings of factions and of folks just trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Panetta knows government he knows Washington and his Confidence in his own political instincts could not be higher. This is a Guy who left the Nixon administration when he got a Good whiff of the authoritarianism wafting Down from the White House into the department of health education and welfare where he was trying honorable to enforce civil rights Laws. Having served previously As an aide to a Republican senator he went Home to California became a Democrat and won election to the House in 1976. He was chosen by his colleagues As chairman of the budget committee a Merit appointment not controlled by seniority a and was recommended to Clinton who previously did not know him Well As the right Man to run the administrations budget. He got High Marks from everyone in that Job. Whate Panetta does not have is the Bond of personal loyalty Clinton forged with other White House staffers and advisers who went through the fires of the 1992 Campaign at his Side. That Lack proved debilitating to David Gergen when Clinton added him to the top staff last year and he is now on his Way out. Panetta also has Little reputation As an administrator. But he does have the qualities possessed by the Man he says is his role Model As chief of staff a James Baker. Panetta is intellectually Tough politically savvy especially about Capitol Hill and trusted by politicians of both parties and the press. But unlike Ronald Reagan who was Happy to Delegate strategic decision making to Baker and other aides Clinton likes to do it himself. So does first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. And so does vice president a Gore. Panetta says he sought and received a full authority from Clinton a and acquiescence from the first lady and the vice president a to manage both personnel and policy in the White House. Clinton has a Talent for telling people what they want to hear. We will see if Panetta really has running room to become another Jim Baker. If he does this White House will change and change for the better. A. C Washington Sun Britain a largest Selling daily denounced Prince Charles last week for his admission on television that he was not faithful to his wife after their marriage broke up. ,. A we Are now knee deep in a constitutional crisis a the tabloid said in an editorial. A Many people Quot found the Story a too shocking to on the Page opposite that moral lecture was a Large photo of a topless Young woman and next to it an illustrated feature on nude fishing a. Humbug is alive and Well in the British press. The Sun having poked its nose relentlessly into the Royal family a life said of Prince Charles a How dare he invade our privacy with his tale of but two Days later after polls had shown Public support for the Prince and his television appearance the Sun announced that after All he was fit to be King. The oily mixture of titillation and self righteousness is the tabloid tradition in great Britain just applied to a new Royal target. What is different these Days is the extent to which the full size papers have descended to the Slimy and sensational. American journalists worry a Good Deal about what they Call the tabloid nation of their business. They should have a look at How far it has gone in Britain. Only Here the process might better be called Murdoch nation. Rupert Murdoch is the dominant newspaper proprietor. His company owns the Sun and the sunday scandal Sheet the news of the world. But also his Are the times once the voice of the establishment and the sunday times which used to be a hard hitting investigative newspaper. A Murdoch is on the right politically and his newspapers have Given crucial support to the conservative party. Many think that conservative governments allowed him to achieve his dominant position waving off the antitrust Laws because he was so helpful politically. He evidently also detests the monarchy. Ideology infects coverage of the United states As Well As Britain. The times Actu Anthony Lewis ally reprinted last Winter excerpts from the far right american Magazine article about the Arkansas state troopers sex charges against president Clinton. A times correspondent Ben Macintyre wrote that the troopers charges had More corroboration than watergate a which he said a lest we forget was based on the evidence of one uncorroborated so much for the Nixon tapes. The sunday times has lately carried on a Campaign questioning the connection Between his and aids and denying that there is an aids epidemic in Africa. Until recently i doubt that even a circulation hungry tabloid would have run such cruelly irresponsible anti science. Murdoch is a financial Genius among press lords with a judgment and daring that have Given him a Media Empire not Only in Britain but also in the United states his native Australia and a through satellite television other areas of the world. But he seems to have no interest in old fashioned journalistic values. Thus when the chinese government objected to bbl news broadcasts Murdoch Cut the bbl world service off his Star satellite to covering China. Head fitted to his biographer William Shaw Cross that he did so a in order to get in there and get Murdoch s values have greatly affected the whole Media scene in Britain. He and his values Are Likely to become even More influential if the tactical War he is now playing goes As he Hopes. It is a War of Price cuts. Last year the times Cut its Price from the equivalent of about 70 cents to 45 cents. As a result it gained circulation at the expense of other full size papers a especially the daily Telegraph the biggest seller at around 1 million copies a Day. Recently the Telegraph dropped its Price to 45 cents. Murdoch promptly Cut the times to 35 cents. At those prices both papers Are losing millions a one guess is si.8 million a month for the times. But Murdoch can cover that from his empires profits a until perhaps his rivals collapse. An official Board is looking into charges of predatory pricing but after All the earlier winks at his behaviour Murdoch must be confident that he can beat that Challenge. If he does the Prospect is for an increasingly Nasty irresponsible British press. C new York a mos s
