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Jordan still resists being pegged as Carter's chief of staff, either in name or in fact. Says a Jordan intimate: "Hamilton doesn't like the kind of stuff a chief of staff has to deal with, all those intramural problems and the paper flow." Jordan himself says that he has no desire to get in the way of Carter's contact with Cabinet officers and other staffers. The West Wing troops, he believes, must "function as a staff should —that is, to support Carter and monitor things that are going on in the Federal Government, and to help him develop and manage his programs."
Besides Jordan, there are five other holdovers from Carter's days in Georgia who are members of the senior staff —spokes in Jimmy's wheel—and have ready access to the President. Press Secretary Jody Powell, 33, is probably in touch with Carter more frequently than anyone else, including Jordan. As one colleague describes the emerging West Wing pecking order: "There's Hamilton and Jody, and then there are the others." Powell was one of the eight aides and Cabinet members Carter called in last week to discuss whether he should drop the $50 rebate.
Jack Watson Jr., 38, is both Cabinet secretary and Carter's Assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs—his formal link to the Department Secretaries as well as to Governors and important mayors. Watson describes himself as a "flow point" for Carter; he is responsible for routing all messages between Cabinet members and the President. Cabinet chiefs can go directly to Carter, of course. "But," says Watson, "as a practical matter, they find it helpful to pass those verbal communications on to me for transmission to him. They're very solicitous of the President's time."
Robert Lipshutz, 55, the Counsel to the President, remains Carter's senior aide (the average age of the other top assistants is 37), and he presides over the daily 8 a.m. staff meeting. But his influence on policy has not broadened beyond relatively narrow legal areas, such as deciding the conflict-of-interest problems for Carter's appointees and advising the commutation of G. Gordon Liddy's Watergate sentence. A rapidly rising member of the Carter staff is Domestic Policy Assistant Stuart E. Eizenstat, 34. Although quiet and self-effacing, he has gained the respect of his colleagues for his grasp of complex issues. Carter too has taken notice. Said he, after the Administration's meetings on the energy program: "Stu has been very impressive in these meetings. He's really impressed me with his ideas and his understandings."
Rising Stars. Congressional Liaison Frank Moore, 41, seems to be recovering from his shaky start in his sensitive position. Moore's staff has been beefed up, and complaints about poor communication with Capitol Hill are diminishing. In any case, Jordan says that most of the criticism unfairly focused on Moore: "A number of us on the White House staff contributed to his problems by mistakes in our own areas."