Word: panetta
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...longer in government service, he would not be under any obligation to pass along to the White House a last word on whether Morris had done what Rowlands claimed. (Later McCurry told reporters that the Bowles-Morris talks were "private.") Also, Clinton knew that his chief of staff, Leon Panetta, and Panetta's deputy, Ickes, were too hostile to Morris to deal with him in these circumstances. Panetta had once threatened to quit because Morris was elbowing in on White House access. Ickes had sparred with Morris since the two were rivals in New York City politics three decades...
...Morris suite. Morris' wife Eileen McGann told TIME last week that her husband had decided earlier that night to resign. But several Clinton aides say he argued into the night, trying to tough it out and keep his job. It wasn't until 3 a.m. that Bowles could call Panetta with the news that Morris had offered his resignation. Panetta let the President sleep, to make sure that he would be at his best for his convention acceptance speech...
...noon that day, Panetta and McCurry presented Clinton with a draft of the brief comment he would issue about the Morris departure, saying Morris "is my friend, and he is a superb political strategist." Later the President, his wife and Vice President Gore would all make condolence phone calls to Morris. But for now the President had other things on his mind. He inked in a few revisions to the statement and returned to work on his speech. Says McCurry: "He just kept going." And going. In his acceptance speech Clinton passed over the whole episode without mention. But every...
...Missouri: "I never heard of him [Morris] before this week." The official White House line is that the loss of Morris is no particular loss at all. With the basic message locked in place, the campaign can go on automatic pilot. "The best political strategist is the President," says Panetta. For now, the Clinton camp insists, no new names will be called in. All this is fine with Republicans, who are hoping that Clinton will be pulled off the Morris program by serious liberals like Ickes and Stephanopoulos. Clinton pollster Mark Penn and media consultant Bill Knapp, who have already...
...privately with the President on the phone and after hours. "Mystery," he likes to say, "is an integral part of power." For a while he was known only as Charlie--so named by Clinton--the unseen force that hijacked speeches and made policies change course. Chief of staff Leon Panetta threatened to quit unless Clinton brought Morris into the structure. Deputy chief of staff Ickes, his adversary since the 1960s, bollixed Morris wherever he could, refusing his hotel minibar bills and cutting the commission that Morris and his team earned on Clinton's enormous TV-ad budget. Last summer, when...