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Rostenkowski took the unusual step of confiding in the White House staff members before his Sunday announcement, and was assured they would not ridicule it. Chief of Staff John Sununu is said to like the mischief factor: by embracing Rostenkowski, he throws Democrats into disarray. He also turns the spotlight away from House majority leader Richard Gephardt, Bush's most vocal critic, and from New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who is not in the habit of going to the White House to clear his proposals, such as his call for a cut in Social Security taxes. White House Budget Director Richard Darman also has a weakness for mischief, but has always favored a package deal. He called the plan "a genuinely well-motivated effort worthy of serious attention."
A trifle patronizing perhaps, like giving Rostenkowski points for neatness and spelling, but in Darman-speak, this keeps the door open while the budget director figures out how the new proposal cuts for him. Unlike Sununu, who derives pleasure just from the sport of the job, Darman sees himself making headlines and history, the worthy subject of future biographers. As the Administration's top fiscal strategist, his name would be attached to any grand compromise, even if Rosty gets a footnote. Slicing through the Budget Knot may be so tempting that Darman might violate the Administration's firmest vow. When he was asked last week how long the "no new taxes" pledge would last, he said playfully, "For the time being, forever."
The time being looks like forever to congressional Democrats up for re- election in 1990. Most of them like their jobs, and are already imagining a wave of negative ads slamming "tax and spend Democrats." Senate Budget Committee Chairman Jim Sasser warned, "This newfound desire on the part of the White House to negotiate on the basis of a lone Democrat's call for tax increases and domestic spending cuts should be taken for what it is: political opportunism." Kansas Congressman Jim Slattery fears Republicans are "setting up the Democrats for an ambush." The leadership is characteristically cautious. House Speaker Thomas Foley called Rostenkowski's proposal "very important and interesting" but said no comprehensive deficit-reduction plan could be considered unless Bush openly abandons his opposition to new taxes.
Paranoia, perhaps, but Democrats have been here before. After eight years of Republican bashing, they have good reason: in a TIME/CNN poll last week, 56% of the public agreed that "Democrats are too quick to suggest tax increases to reduce the federal deficit." It will take more to pull them onto the dance floor than a "Can we talk?" from Bush or taunts from Senate minority leader Bob Dole accusing the Democratic leadership of "scrambling for a way to duck."