The Presidency: Drawing a Bead on Reagan

This is war. There are angry skirmishers in their tuxedoes riding the banquet circuit every night harassing Ronald Reagan about the planned visit to a German cemetery, aid to the Nicaraguan rebels, tax reform and whopping budget deficits. Embittered and defeated adversaries from old political struggles are gathering around new standards and firing fresh fusillades at the flag bearers of the Reagan revolution.

The antagonists even use the language of the battlefield. "Everybody's waiting in the trenches," said California Democratic Congressman Leon Panetta about impending votes on Capitol Hill. A White House aide sounded last week like a lecturer at a...

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