January 25, 1978

"OOPS!"

It is no coincidence that President Jimmy Carter should obstruct justice - an offense meriting forced resignation - and within the week launch a media campaign to build himself a "new image."

The maneuver is textbook politics that former President Richard Nixon must be ruefully reviewing:

When you are caught with your hand in the cookie jar, you smash the cookie jar and shout "Oops!"  You don't hide in a stone walled closet and hope nobody opens the door.

Thus it will be possible for Carter to survive the firing of U.S. Attorney David W. Marston unscathed.

The whole situation is a fascinating example of political hard ball.

Marston was a bright young aide of Pennsylvania Senator Richard S. Schweiker, both Republicans "going places."  Gerald Ford appointed Marston to the Justice Department post during the lame-duck period of his presidency.

With commendable zeal, or vicious partisanship, Marston quickly obtained corruption convictions against a Republican councilman and two Democratic state legislators.

Inasmuch as Marston was flushing out small fry from both parties, President Carter and Attorney General Griffin Bell were content to abide by their oft declared campaign promise to "depolitize" the Justice Department.

Then the mud hit the fan.

Marston began an investigation of strange financial connections between a hospital construction firm and two Democratic Congressmen: Joshua Eilberg, of Philadelphia; and Daniel J.  Flood, of Wilkes Barre.

The heat finally got to Eilberg and he called the attorney general, and later the president, to demand Marston's removal.

Carter announced the next day he was going to replace Marston with a Democrat because the young attorney, who had successfully prosecuted three political corrupters, "lacked trial experience."

Eilberg had called President Carter, incredibly, from a tailor's shop within hearing of witnesses.  When a reporter asked the president if he had received a call from Eilberg demanding Marston's head, Carter, the born again Christian, looked the reporter in the eye and lied straight out, "No."  When confronted with the falsehood, Carter allowed as how the call had slipped his mind.

Despite exposure of the cover up - or more likely because of it - Carter and Bell fired Marston without further delay.  Had the good ole boys from Georgia been caught with Watergate tapes we can be certain the evidence would have fueled the biggest bonfire ever seen in the White House rose garden.

Rotting campaign promises may smell up the joint for awhile, but a clever press secretary can readily convince the public it is attar of roses.

Thus, with the slaughter over, Jody Powell was called in to clean up the mess.

He first asked top White House aides to evaluate the president's image.  Their "confidential" consensus, which as usual leaked to the Washington press, was "terrible."

Powell then designed a new media-blitz to create a born again president:

• Concentrate on one "theme" at a time.
• Night time press conferences with prime TV coverage.
• More TV speeches.
• Fewer proposals to Congress.
• Frequent, short trips to eyeball the voters.

"We not only overloaded the Congress with legislation in our first year," says Powell, "we also overloaded the communications system."

The problem, it appears, is only one of adroit manipulation of the mass media.  Compose a catchy jingle, use the right make up, hire a good gag writer, buy prime time.  Then the message in 25 words or less.

It sells soap and under-arm deodorant.  Once upon a time, when the art of arranging media events was new and we were more gullible, the technique sold a presidency.  But since the disenchantment no one is sure the old black magic still weaves a spell.

Professional politicians will watch the unfolding image campaign with great interest, looking for improvements in the art.  Was public disgust with Richard Nixon a simple personality conflict peculiar only to him, or was it a great awakening of the electorate that will forever more hold all presidents accountable?

The opinion polls still rate President Carter highly for his "sincerity."  But mark him down for "accomplishment."  The average American will still buy a used car from him, but prospective customers overseas hold him at arm's length.

Typical is the blunt assessment by Conrad Ahlers, editor of the Hamburg (West Germany) Morgenpost and a member of Bonn Parliament:

"The worst political failure of the past year was Jimmy Carter.  There is hardly any difference of opinion about that among statesmen in the West, the East, and the Third World.  Whatever the U.S. President has touched - be it the human rights issue, disarmament negotiations, the Middle East, the world wide recession, or the rate of the dollar - he smashed valuable china."

To this we now must add collapse of his morality pitch.

What ever new image is devised for Mr. Carter, the gloss is gone.

Author: Lindsey Williams