The Nerve Center: Lessons in Governing from the White House Chiefs of Staff

Chapter 5. In the Governing Community

108 • chapter 5 chapter 5 In the Governing Community As Secretary Baker notes in his foreword, many of the former chiefs of staV who attended the Forum came to the White House with previous experience in Washington. Some of those participating in this Wnal discussion have played a number of roles inside each of the Constitution’s governing institutions. Some, like Secretary Cheney and Congressman Panetta, have held positions on the president’s cabinet and among the congressional leadership. The following discussion focuses on appreciating the White House chief of staV in the larger scheme of governing. The discussion also reXects the central fact that Washington, D.C., constitutes a specialized community, one in which the common meaning of relationships carries a particular and not entirely well-understood meaning. And where the measure of presidential power rises or falls with the special judgments of these savvy Washington observers. The discussion begins with this topic, of the Washington vision of itself, but quickly switches to an “external” setting: how the White House projects its sense of leadership to a general public, outside of Washington, and how that projection itself becomes the message the public receives. In eVect, the discussion returns to the second operational dilemma, crisis management and projection, and from that topic it extrapolates to the eVect of process on decisions and “style.” From a discussion of crisis, the former chiefs of staVs take up again the issue of access and the special case of the national security apparatus, which White Houses often consider outside the purview of the chief of staV. Their discussion returns to the chief of staV’s central role in the daily rhythms of governing, especially how the chief represents the president’s views as negotiator with others in Washington. Representing the president and advising at the same time strains the chief of staV, the discussants note, by placing so many meetings and responsibilities on the chief’s agenda. How can the chief Untitled-9 6/17/04, 12:03 PM 108 in the governing community • 109 of staV participate in the White House and run it simultaneously? What tradeoVs must the chief make to keep advice Xowing to the president? How can the chief of staV get the president’s message to the media without becoming the story itself? And Wnally, how can a White House function properly in governing when the nature of politics itself drifts towards a cacophony of voices? PARTICIPANTS Richard Neustadt (Harvard University) Richard Cheney (Ford) Leon Panetta (Clinton) Donald Rumsfeld (Ford) Jack Watson (Carter) THE VIEW FROM ELSEWHERE mr. neustadt: Let me ask Leon [Panetta], you were in the House of Representatives and had some seniority of signiWcance, and then you became OMB director. From either or both of those positions, you have had a view of the chief of staV’s position that you may have changed after you got into the job. Would you mind telling us what view you had from those rather elevated distances and what changes you experienced after you got into the job? mr. panetta: The view of a chief of staV really varied a great deal depending on the particular chief of staV and the role that that individual assumed with the president. For example, Jim Baker, when he was chief of staV, we were negotiating budgets. It was obvious that at the time we were sitting down to negotiate a budget he carried the full trust of the president in trying to negotiate an agreement. When we sat down we had Tom Foley in the oYce along with all of the leadership on both sides, including Bob Michael. We had both leaders from the Senate. You’re sitting in a room and you’re negotiating. As a member of the budget committee, I was in the room negotiating. You clearly had the sense that whatever deal you were able to cut that Jim Baker was carrying full credentials from the president.1 Other chiefs of staV, if you’re not simply sitting down and dealing in a room with them, you may get a periodic call but your relationship is more with legislative liaison than it was with a particular chief of staV so that the Untitled-9 6/17/04, 12:03 PM 109 110 • chapter 5 assistant to the president who is covering congressional aVairs was generally the Wrst person you ran into. I rarely had a chief...