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Some other such moves are afoot. The President last week unveiled his plan to create over the next three years up to 75 "enterprise zones" in blighted areas. The idea is to revitalize decaying neighborhoods by offering generous tax breaks to employers who set up shop there and hire disadvantaged residents. Dropped from this job-stimulus proposal was an early suggestion that employers in these zones might be allowed to pay subminimum wages and gain exemption from health and safety regulations, two ideas that are favored by some conservatives but might have cost support in Congress for one of the few items in the President's program that many liberals find attractive.
This conciliatory line is no spur-of-the-moment switch but a calculated strategy. When the White House staff gathered at Camp David with Reagan's pollsters and outside advisers for a political planning session in early February—the President himself was absent—all agreed that Reagan ought to show more sympathy to the poor and to racial and religious minorities. The President, whose own political antennas had picked up the growing public unease, did not have to be sold. Again, when Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker warned Reagan three weeks ago that his gibes against congressional critics of his budget were riling Republicans as well as Democrats, the President agreed to tone down his rhetoric.
Nonetheless, growing troubles abroad, the persistence of the recession and the impasse over the budget have bred tension and frustration at the White House. The mood appears to be shared by the President. He is distressed by efforts to portray him as Scrooge and believes the press is taking an unduly negative tone in reporting on his Administration. Though Reagan is usually careful to conceal these feelings, now and then they flash out damagingly, as in his "South Succotash" wisecrack two weeks ago, for which he had the grace to apologize later.
There were hints from the Administration last week that the President may be willing to accompany his honeyed words to critics with substantive compromises on the policies that are arousing public worry. With Reagan's approval, White House Chief of Staff James Baker phoned House Speaker Tip O'Neill to propose that he open discussions on the budget with two of the chamber's Democratic powers, Budget Committee Chairman James Jones and Ways and Means Chairman Daniel Rostenkowski. Baker held separate preliminary talks with them late in the week. The move was urged by House Minority Leader Robert Michel, who implored the White House to show at least a willingness to listen to ideas for reducing the deficits. Reagan's advisers readily agreed. Explained one: "We have to get around the feeling that there is an impasse over the deficit question. If we can't do that, interest rates won't come down, and the recovery will be delayed."
The talks are hedged with so many restrictions that no one can tell if they will produce anything meaningful. White House aides are convinced of the need for compromise, and they may have finally begun to persuade their chief. Presidential Counsellor Edwin Meese said on Friday that the Administration is "looking for areas of agreement" with Congress, and admitted flatly of Reagan's proposed budget: "Some changes are necessary."