Word: darman
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Ironically, the best depiction to date of the nation's gridlock may have come last summer from a ranking member of the Bush Administration: Budget Director Richard Darman. In a speech at the National Press Club, Darman blasted both the Government and the voters for mimicking spoiled children with demands of "now-nowism -- our collective shortsightedness, our obsession with the here and now, our reluctance adequately to address the future . . . Many think of ((the deficit)) as a cause of our problems. But it is also a symptom, a kind of silent now-now scream...
...reform law. The drain on the Treasury could be compounded when the measure reaches the Senate, where it is expected to pass, and Democrats try to extend the tax breaks on individual retirement accounts. It seemed like a classic outbreak of "now-nowism," as Budget Director Richard Darman, who helped broker the deal, labels the nation's hunger for immediate gratification...
While Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is a loyal Republican, he has taken pains to avoid any appearance of partisanship. And for its part, the Bush Administration has refrained from publicly admonishing Greenspan over monetary policy. But that restraint evaporated last week when Budget Director Richard Darman, appearing on NBC's Meet the Press, accused the Federal Reserve Board of keeping interest rates too high because of an exaggerated concern about inflation. "If we do have a recession, I think it will be because they erred on the side of caution," said Darman...
Rather than disavow the Budget Director's comments, Bush told a news conference on Tuesday that "I can feel very comfortable with his sallying forth and saying that." While Darman's critique was not directed at Greenspan personally, former Federal Reserve Governor Lyle Gramley thinks the ploy may backfire. Said he: "The Fed cannot be seen as knuckling under to pressure from the Administration...
After the Cabinet sessions, Bush repairs to the Oval Office and widens his net. He often invites Darman or Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady along to go over this point or that; sometimes he turns it into a working lunch. Bush is soon on the telephone shopping the options around to his "sources" on Capitol Hill: Senator Robert Dole on political matters, Ohio Congressman Willis Gradison on health care and economic matters, Tennessee Republican Don Sundquist on tax questions. Following the May Cabinet debates over which countries to name as unfair traders under the new "Super 301" section...