"This is like The Perils of Pauline," Richard Darman joked on the phone last Friday morning, only hours after his plan for reducing the federal deficit had gone down to a resounding defeat in the House of Representatives. At the other end of the line was Michael Duffy, one of TIME's two White House correspondents, who has been following the talks and the Budget Director's role in them since last May.
Darman's lighthearted remark was exactly the kind of comment Duffy has come to expect from the man who once donned a gorilla suit to celebrate the President's birthday. Darman has...
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