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The Iran-contra hearings last week may have had more to do with theater and symbolism than with great constitutional questions. Throughout American history, the President and Congress have collided on the question of who runs the nation's foreign policy. The Iran-contra affair demonstrates the danger at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue: the problem of unexamined, undisciplined policy by the Executive, and the problem of a foreign policy excessively inhibited and micromanaged by the Congress. In either case, the American system of checks and balances sometimes makes it difficult for foreigners to deal with the U.S. with confidence. They may fear that private deals of the Ollie North kind will be exposed, by Congress, the press, or both. Or they may fear, as the contras did, that a President's policy of support may presently be rescinded on Capitol Hill.
The results of the hearings for Ronald Reagan are cross-grained. North's credibility does not rub off on the President. On the contrary. The Administration had been worried that North would be torn apart on Capitol Hill and taint Reagan in the process. Yet it was North's boffo performance that somehow diminished the President: North stood tall in defense of the covert crusade on behalf of the contras, in contrast to Reagan's feckless refrain about not being quite sure what was happening. North's loyalties were unwavering, even toward the President who had summarily dismissed him. Having scrambled so hard to distance itself from North, the White House will find it hard to bask in his temporary aura.
At the same time, North's passionate defense does tend to validate the President's policies toward the contras and to draw some of the poison out of the public's attitudes toward the whole Iran-contra misadventure. North left an impression of projects that at least were passionately well meant.
The President may achieve an arms-control agreement in the fall. But his time left for achievement in the White House is short. Once the 1988 primaries begin, Reagan will have virtually departed into history.
It is difficult to predict where Oliver North's destiny will take him. Americans may decide that he won them a little too easily, and sobriety may set in. His moment may be fleeting. The special prosecutor lies in wait. It may be, semper fi, that he will grow old in the corps. Perhaps he will reverse Ronald Reagan's trajectory and find a home in Hollywood. Politics? North has already proved that he is almost dangerously gifted at the persuasive arts.