Reagan campaigns in a tightly controlled cocoon

Press, 28 September 1984, Page 6

Reagan campaigns in a tightly controlled cocoon

By LOYE MILLER, of the Newhouse News Service (through NZPA) Washington The Democratic Presidential candidate, Walter Mondale, has been frustrated in his efforts to make the President, Mr Ronald Reagan, join the day-to-day debate on the issues which Mr Mondale has tried to make the hallmark of the 1984 campaign. Mr Mondale has attacked Mr Reagan for limiting his campaigning to a series of “cameo performances and photo-opportunities,” calling him “the most isolated President in American history.” Other Democrats, and some editorialists and co-.

lumnists, have criticised what they call a presidency in a “cocoon,” and Mr Reagan’s “packaged” campaign. Are these allegations well-founded? Almost all recent Presidents have been relatively inaccessible as they sought re-election, and the comparative degree of Mr Reagan’s isolation is debatable. But there is no doubt that Mr Reagan’s campaign is based almost entirely on his personal magnetism and a "feeling good about America” theme. The President and his handlers are trying quite successfully to say as little as possible about issues and about what

he might do in a second term. Mr Reagan has not granted a full news conference since July 24, and may not have another until after the election on November 6. When this inaccessability begins to cause news stories and editorial comment, the Reagan men counteract it by opening the cocoon a bit and having the President take a few questions. But Mr Reagan’s weakness for putting his foot in his mouth in spontaneous remarks shows why they keep this to a minimum. Mr Reagan thus is using the immense power and prestige of his office to control the agenda and rhythm of

the campaign in ways that are to his advantage. But every President running for re-election does that, and most within recent memory — Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter in particular — were hardly any more open or accessible than Mr Reagan is now. Mr Reagan has agreed to two debates with Mr Mondale. Mr Nixon refused to debate with George McGovern in 1972. Mr Carter agreed to debate Mr Reagan once in 1980. Mr Reagan’s recent campaign touring illustrates the “packaged” nature of his scheduling. One day he left the White House at midmorning and flew to Waterbury, Connecticut, where he

t addressed an impressive downtown crowd of 25,000. i He then flew to Atlantic i i City, New Jersey, rode in a i t motorcade to another rally 1 i in the southern New Jersey ’ town of Hammonton, spoke, : r and then returned, reaching I > the White House about 7 i p.m. As always, these set- < i piece rallies were superbly i arranged by White House , advance men, with American flags and helium-filled 1 • white balloons to be distri- i ■ buted through the crowd. . . < ■'■:'■■■ ■: Through the entire day, ; • Mr Reagan remained within i an invisible but very real I protective envelope pro- I vided by his staff and the i Secret Service. Except for a ] ; few words of small talk i

with local dignitaries, noone could elicit any comment except the text of his speeches, which he faithfully followed. But the television coverage, rich with scenes of Mr Reagan and the enthusiastic, flag-wav-ing, balloon-sprinkled crowd, created a different impression. Bill Plante, of the Columbia Broadcasting System, said that Presidential aides “acknowledge it’s the visual impression they care most about — the flags, the bal-. loons, the fireworks, the huge cheering crowds at these painstakingly orchestrated rallies. With symbols like these, they see no reason for Mr Reagan to

have to deal in substantive issues." The next day was different only in that it suited Mr Reagan’s purpose to answer a few questions. It was hard to tell the cheering rallies in Cedar Rapids, lowa, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, from those that had gone before. Mr Reagan’s speeches, as always in the last few weeks, were heavily larded with his “new patriotism” theme (“We see an America where every day is the Fourth of July”), and almost totally lacking in specific plans or promises. But since the United States Embassy annex in Beirut had been bombed that morning, Mr Reagan

took reporters’ questions (“It’s another painful reminder of the persistent threat of terrorism”) as he left the White House, and again while standing in the middle of a soya bean field in lowa. Aboard Air Force One, he also took a pool reporter’s question about Mr Mondale’s assertion that Reagan-Bush staffers were sending hecklers to the Democrats’ rallies, and used it nicely to his own advantage, saying, “J wish people wouldn’t do it ...It’s rude and it shouldn’t be done.” All of these comments were brief. But a conversation lasting less than a minute, if included in the day’s television news broad-

casts, can easily give the public the illusion that Mr Reagan is more approachable than he really is. “How do you convince people that he’s inaccessible when every so often they see footage of him talking with reporters?” says a frustrated White House correspondent The point which probably does not come across clearly to the public, is that even these situations are heavily controlled and manipulated by the White House. Mr Reagan is a very polite man, and is thus inclined to answer shouted questions when the press pool is near. But that can be stopped at any time by a

press secretary, Larry Speakes, who has been known to throw his body between the President and reporters, shouting, “No questions." But even though Mr Mondale’s assertions about isolation and packaging of the President are largely valid, his effort to turn this into a campaign issue has been unsuccessful. And Mr Reagan’s intent to mount a campaign that looks more like a foamy soft-drink commercial than a political . operation has been enormously successful. . The polls, reflecting a big i Reagan lead, indicate that J the voters don’t much care • whether their President is : “packaged.” ’