TRICKS OF THE TRADE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00498R000100170007-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 19, 2007
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: July 19, 1979
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/06/19: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100170007-9
ESSAY
NOW YORK TIMES
19 JULY 1979
3. The switch-the-target trick: With
pollster Pat Caddell holding the
weathervane aloft at Camp David, the
President diagnosed a "crisis of the
spirit" and did for the French word
"malaise" what Henry Kissinger did
for "detente:" -
But the "crisis" is not of the nation's
spirit, it is of the Carter Administra-
tion's eptitude. The American people
have not lost confidence in them-
selves; they have lost confidence in
Mr. Carter. The way he turned that
around was neat. ?
4.The satisfying non-sacrifice trick: -
People like to be called onto make sac-
rifices in general, which is ennobling'.
but when the sacrifice is specified, it
becomes unfair. The President could .
have stimulated U.S. oil production by,.
he Trade.
By William Safire-
WASHINGTON, July 18 - In a
flurry of speeches and background
massages of newsmen, Jimmy Carter
accused the American people of being
self-indulgent, materialistic and mor-
ally dispirited. This from the man who
promised to provide "a government as
good as the people."
In this first week of his campaigning
for renomination in 1980, he came
down from the mountain with a hatful
of tricks:
1. The following-leadership trick:
With his support eroding, he reached
back for his 1976 campaign gimmick:
make a show of "listening to the peo-
ple." This costs nothing and shows re-
spect.
The point.of the long buildup was
that he was a good listener, which is to
say he would do what most people
wanted. He then came before us to say
removing the price controls that subsi-
dize waste, or- if the "crisis" is as se-
vere as he says it is - could have cut
demand by rationing. , ., --
But that would have meant. specific
sacrifice by real people rather than
satisfying ron-sacrifice. He took the
route least likely to upset anybody. He
appointed a committee (or.="board")
to "cut through red . tape," which
draws applause- until the tape turns
out tobethecleanairlaw._'- -
S.The timid boldness trick: "We will
protect our environment,"he intoned
forcefully, and 65 million viewers
leaned forward to hear what he would
do about nuclear power. Silence; that
was too controversial. Next day, when
fewer people were listening, he put in a
line in its favor. The oxymoronic trick
in this is never to be timid in- using a.
strong voice to say the word "bold."
7.The bully-in-the-pulpit trick: With
a severe recession on the way that will
overshadow even the Lance trial and
Curran grand jury findings this fall,
Mr. Carter has laid the blame on (a)
OPEC, per Stu Eizenstat's memo, and
(b) Washington, run by a Democratic
Congress and opposed by the leading
resident of Camp David, Maryland.
8.The changing-characters-in-mid-
stream trick: The man on the screen,
in a last-ditch effort to save his politi-
cal skin, shed his skin. Having
changed the part in his hair tano avail,
he proceeded to change the part in his
mind.
No longer did we see the real Jimmy
Carter- cool, soft-spoken, manageri-
al, the smiling preacher promising
salvation. We now see the "new" Car-
ter - strident, loud, fist-clenching on
cue, the preacher threatening hellfire.
and damnation. It is not the same
man, nor is this Rafshoon concoction
the real man. If we have come to dis-
trust the real Carter, will we trust the
unreal Carter?
He seems not to care if his tough de.
meanor and slap-dash decisions have
i weakened the dollar and shaken the in-
i stitution of the Presidency. To save his
political life, the President has been
willing to plunge the nation into an ar-
tificial to meet that crisis, he
has created a false and unnatural per-
sonaliry. And that is quite a trick.
"I will lead." But that is the opposite'
of leadership: that's followership. The
trick is to call it leadership.:
2. The. ' can't-lick-'em,-join-'em
trick: He apologized for his 30 months
of failure ("mixed success") and of-
fered this alibi: that he had been too
busy "managing the Government" to
lead the people. But if you wculd lead a
nation, you must show some talent at
managing it: -most. Americans have
concluded that he has not been good at'.
that..
Mr: Carter will even join in that
criticism, too: With much fanfare, he
has elicited the mass resignations of
his Administration.. And in front of a
gaping Cabinet, he has finally given a -
tongue-lashing to Ambassador An-
drew Young. Thus, he shifts the blame -
for his own mismanagement to his
aides, with whom he was supposedly
so busy managing the Government in-
stead of reading. (Neither Stanfield
Turner of the C.I.A. nor William Miller
of the Federal Reserve, his most dis -
as intro appointments, were in-
cluded in e u y Morn , as-
sacre.") As one wag puts it: " ey're
seernng Kool-Aides the White House- - `.
Mess.' :. ,
, 6.The high-base statistic trick. The.--
most. dramatic moment in Mr.. Car-
ter's War on Prosperity came with his
resounding "Never!" He was quothing
at not importing more oil than in 1977.
Why pick that year? Because it was '
the highest import year,. higher than
1978, higher than this year. Contrary
to his audience's belief, the President...`..
promised no belt-tightening at all. No
ceiling for. Mr: Carter, perhaps a head
- ache:-for.'his successor._?in.1981:. that; ''-
trick was one he learned-- in the SALT"
STAT
Approved For Release 2007/06/19: CIA-RDP99-00498R000100170007-9