Despite his sometimes shirty demeanor, Richard Darman, George Bush's Budget Director, is known around the White House as an accomplished comedian. After all, a knack for cutting up goes naturally with the job; last year when Bush asked for the impossible -- a budget that lowered the deficit without raising taxes -- Darman responded with a 15-page essay rife with references to Wonderland, Pac-Man and Cookie Monster. Given the cooked books that were expected of him, humor was Darman's best defense.
This year silly stratagems have been set aside. Darman's budget for 1992 is a more sober reflection of the nation's...
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