Word: troika
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Those questions are especially critical in this Administration because Reagan, more than most Presidents, relies on his aides to shape a policy consensus that he can accept, modify or reject. One answer is easy: there is no doubt which aides are most important. The so-called troika of Presidential Counsellor Edwin Meese, 50, White House Chief of Staff James Baker, 51, and Deputy Chief of Staff Michael Deaver, 42, almost constitutes an inner government. But how they are organized and operate is difficult even for the participants to describe. The troika is a puzzling three-headed creature that defies...
...members of the troika, in contrast, are in effect?though not in title?three Chiefs of Staff. The duties and powers of the three men are ill defined; they overlap and intersect at a thousand points. The personalities differ in substantive ways. Meese, a cautious lawyer and the most conservative of the troika, specializes in summarizing conflicting arguments without committing himself. Baker, also a lawyer, is a hard-driving organizer with finely tuned political instincts. Deaver, an affable former public relations consultant, is concerned, above all, with the welfare and comfort of the First Family. Californians Meese and Deaver have...
Well, maybe. The handling of the Allen affair does point to subtle strains and tensions within the group. But so far, at least, the troika has put on a spectacular show of unity. Meese, Baker and Deaver are constantly in and out of each other's offices, as well as Reagan's. They eat breakfast together in Baker's large corner office at 7:30 every morning that all three are in Washington, to review problems and options, plus the day's agenda for Reagan and themselves. Says one White House aide: "That breakfast is the key to the kingdom...
Nearly all advice reaching Reagan filters through the troika: an issue may be discussed in a Cabinet meeting, but the President nearly always will chew it over privately with the three before deciding. And then he normally will communicate his choice by asserting, at a morning meeting with the three: "I've been thinking about this, and I've decided we ought to do it this...
...prosecutor who rarely shows strain or annoyance, prides himself on being the principal policy man. He summarizes issues and possible choices at Cabinet meetings and in sessions with Reagan. Says Deaver: "He is superb at articulating options, synthesizing views." Meese runs meetings with wry humor. At one session the troika had with several Cabinet members, all participants agreed, following a wearying debate, on a paper that summarized positions Reagan would take with Third World leaders at the North-South conference in Cancun. But Secretary of State Alexander Haig then asserted: "I've got one last change to make." Meese replied...