Word: rafshooned
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...Rafshoon believes one of Carter's problems is that he has not sufficiently followed his own political instincts. As a result, "too many people still feel that they do not know him. He has not made enough of an impression of who and what he really is." Rafshoon, therefore, has been trying to increase Carter's exposure in the press and on TV. When the President had his town meeting last month in West Berlin, for instance, Rafshoon arranged for live network coverage of it back in the U.S. After returning home, Carter held his first evening news...
...overcome Carter's image as a weak leader, Rafshoon has been urging the President to assert more control over his Administration in public. Thus when U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young thoughtlessly equated U.S. treatment of civil rights activists with the Soviet Union's persecution of its dissidents, he was openly reprimanded by Carter. Similarly, in the wake of the Bourne episode, the President sternly lectured his staff that they would be fired if they broke the law by smoking marijuana or sniffing cocaine. Rafshoon has told Carter, who tends to be extremely loyal to his staff, that...
...Another Rafshoon goal is ending the Administration's confusing zigzags and fuzziness on key issues. Says a White House aide: "Jerry is doing things that should have been done all along. He is concentrating the emphasis on a few major themes and goals." At Rafshoon's urging, the Administration on the domestic front has begun focusing mainly on energy, the economy and Government efficiency...
...Rafshoon runs his eye, and sometimes his pencil, over the draft of every presidential speech of consequence. He also serves as a booking agent for Cabinet members and White House aides, phoning TV producers, mentioning who is available for interview shows and even suggesting timely topics. Once a booking is made, Rafshoon prepares a briefing paper for the official, setting forth the Administration's line on a number of questions that might be asked. Officials are not supposed to appear on television without being cleared by Rafshoon-something Midge Costanza did not do. Rafshoon abruptly canceled her scheduled appearance...
...White House Correspondent Laurence Barrett, "partially muzzle what had once been proclaimed an open Administration. On the other hand, the White House has suffered extensively from too much contradictory talk from too many high officials. Though he quakes at the notion of becoming known as 'the Enforcer,' Rafshoon does perform that function to a limited extent, as he tries to get everyone marching in the same direction on sensitive questions...