DIED The man many republicans blame most for George H.W. Bush's reneging on his "Read my lips: no new taxes" pledge was Bush budget chief Richard Darman. As a top aide to Ronald Reagan, he was both an intellectual and a savvy technocrat. Yet the economist could be stubborn. After persuading Bush to reverse himself to reduce the deficit—a move that deeply damaged voters' trust and one that Bush called his biggest mistake—Darman maintained the error was tactical; the plan had just been badly presented. "I'm a long-term idealist and short-term realist," he said. Darman was 64 and had leukemia.
He...
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