‘We’re Doing Something Right Around Here’ : O’Neill Makes No Apologies for Career

His distinctive white mane, bulbous nose and wide paunch have become synonymous with a style of liberal politics that younger Democrats consider passe, but at age 72 and facing the final curtain on a half-century in public life, House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill Jr. is making no apologies.

He proclaims himself still the dominant political force in the House of Representatives, the chief architect of policy for the whole Democratic Party and a popular national figure who has won the confidence of the average Joe.

“I have people in that House that will fight for me. When they hear someone in the back room criticize Tip O’Neill, they’re on him like that,” said the Speaker, snapping his fingers.

“And you know why? We’re doing something right around here. Why are we doing something right? Because the fellow that’s managing the club is making the right moves for the government and his party.”

But O’Neill’s boastfulness betrays a keen sensitivity to the unflattering picture that has been painted by critics--the portrait of a man who has become a historical anachronism, repudiated by the younger members of his party and rapidly losing power as he approaches retirement at the end of next year.

“O’Neill tends to reinforce for Republicans the image of the Democratic Party as a party of the past, a party of smoke-filled rooms,” political scientist Norman Ornstein said.

As O’Neill sees it, his political leadership paid off recently when the Democrats’ refusal to accept a freeze in Social Security benefits led to an embarrassing budget stalemate between President Reagan and his fellow Republicans. Such tactics, he predicted, will carry his party to victory in the November, 1986, congressional elections.

In the judgment of some House members, however, the Speaker’s devotion to old-style liberalism and insider politics more than offset any temporary tactical triumph.

And, some congressmen say, he is already bowing out of the political picture and gradually relinquishing the decision-making to a handful of increasingly influential committee chairmen as well as his hand-picked successor, Rep. Jim Wright of Texas. That slow-dissolve transition is causing problems for his party, these Democrats contend.

According to California Rep. Leon E. Panetta (D-Carmel Valley), House Democrats are suffering from a lack of leadership caused by what he calls the “lame-duck factor”--a widespread recognition in Washington that O’Neill’s days in power are numbered.

“There does seem to be a real vacuum at the top,” agreed Timothy Cook, political science professor at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. “O’Neill has just not been as visible. It’s like everybody is waiting for someone else to make the first step.”

When I first came here 35 years ago, there used to be a poker game at the University Club. There’d be 25 members of Congress there every Wednesday night. Richard Nixon was a poker player. He was among the group. It was equall y divided among Democrats and Republicans.

You’d get up there about 6 p.m., you’d sit around until 8 p.m, you’d talk about legislation, you’d talk about sports, you’d talk about your district--everything was camaraderie. There was no Democrats against Republicans.

At 8 p.m. , you drew and had a couple of poker games. Everything was the spirit of friendship. But there was an understanding, you know, what was Democratic and what was Republican. Sam Rayburn was the boss. The Democrats were in power. It was their responsibility to run Congress.

Now you have these young people who haven’t worked their way up the line who say, “What the hell kind of operation is this? I was elected by the people; don’t I have a voice?”

Tip O’Neill is used to criticism.

Political cartoonists portray him as a living symbol of smoke-filled-room politics. In their political advertisements and fund-raising letters, Republicans condemn him as the patron saint of “tax and spend.” An acid-tongued Republican once described O’Neill as “big, fat and out of control--just like the federal government.”

Not even within his own party does O’Neill get the reverence and respect traditionally afforded men of his age and experience. Although most House Democrats praise his Irish wit and political integrity, few see him as a public relations asset and seldom does he get the recognition that he would like as a successful policy strategist for his party.

‘Zest for Change’

Said Rep. Thomas J. Downey (D-N.Y.), a fellow liberal: “If we listened to everything the Speaker said, we would believe the Red Sox are the best team in baseball.”

Aspiring young Democrats such as 35-year-old Rep. Dave McCurdy of Oklahoma think O’Neill does not fully grasp the need for a more innovative approach to party policy. “I will not speak against the man,” said McCurdy, “but that doesn’t dampen my zest for change.”

Earlier this year, McCurdy defied the Speaker by leading the fight to oust 80-year-old Rep. Melvin Price (D-Ill.) as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. After failing to persuade Price to step down voluntarily, O’Neill eloquently defended the doddering committee chairman when the matter came up for a vote in the House Democratic Caucus.

The caucus vote that ousted Price was widely interpreted as a direct slap at O’Neill.

“The message that they’re trying to send is that they want O’Neill to fade into the background,” political scientist Ornstein said at the time, adding that Democrats were asking for a leader “more presentable, more telegenic and more able to reflect the views of the 1980s.”

Seniority System

At a time when younger House Democrats want a bigger role for themselves in party policy-making, O’Neill adheres to the seniority system and the traditional view that inexperienced lawmakers should wait their turn to inherit power.

Back-room politics--anathema to some younger Democrats--is O’Neill’s forte.

“I am an insider kind of fellow,” he admitted in a recent interview. “I’m the last of the old bloc. I do more behind the scenes without it ever getting into the news than the average fellow does in a lifetime. I’ve put billions of dollars into the budget. I have the ability and the knack to handle people and get things done.”

Helping the Needy

Similarly, at a time when an increasing number of House Democrats want to set a more moderate course for the party, O’Neill remains an unabashed liberal. He firmly believes that the role of government is to help needy people and was horrified during the 1984 presidential election when he saw Democratic candidates such as Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado appealing to what he describes as a “baseness” or selfishness in the attitudes of younger voters.

California Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) described O’Neill as “a mainstay of traditional Democratic values and ideals.” According to Waxman, younger party members do not understand--as the Speaker does--that the voters have no need for Democrats “if we’re out there doing the Republicans’ job for them.”

Many House Democrats, however, privately disagreed with O’Neill’s decision to preserve Social Security cost-of-living raises during the recent budget negotiations.

I hear everything that’s said about me out there. I know everybody that’s being helped, the plots or plans or things like that. And I call them in and I would rather have them tell me to my teeth in my office than behind my back, you know, saying the snide remarks.

And the interesting thing is, as Speaker of the House, I always know that my most violent enemy within my Democratic Party someday or the next day--30 days or 60 days--is going to come into this office looking for something. Even if it’s only to introduce to me the mayor of the most important town in his district, and he wants me to be friendly with him. “This is mayor so-and-so,” and he wants me to tell the mayor what a great job he’s doing and what an excellent chairman he is and how I respect him and there’s a great future for him.

O’Neill insists he is unperturbed by all the criticism. He not only laughs at the nasty cartoons, but hangs the best of them on his office walls. And he dismisses as well-meaning “kids” the younger members of his party who are agitating for change.

“I take it from whence it comes,” he said. “It’s the people that accomplish nothing who are the greatest critics, for the most part. I don’t have to prove anything to them. I’m where I am. I’ve been in public life for 50 years. I’ve been in the leadership in Washington for 17 years. I will have served longer consecutively than any man in the history of this government, and nobody has ever opposed me.”

But O’Neill is quick to respond whenever his name is taken in vain, and admits he enjoys it when his critics must humble themselves before him seeking a favor.

Encounter With Student

He also recoils when Republicans portray liberal Democrats as big spenders. Recalling a recent encounter with a college student who said to him, “You’re the era of tax and spend, tax and spend,” O’Neill admitted he reacted emotionally, saying: “We haven’t passed a spending bill since you were 12 years old. Where do you get an idea like that?”

In response to those who see him as presenting the “wrong image” for the Democratic Party, O’Neill and his advisers point to a recent Louis Harris survey giving him a record-high 54% approval rating--one percentage point higher than that of Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), who aspires to the presidency.

O’Neill’s approval rating has risen so sharply that his press secretary, Christopher J. Matthews, likens his boss to the Classic Coke--a product whose popularity was not fully recognized until the manufacturer started to replace it.

Confident of Popularity

In fact, the Speaker is so confident of his popularity that when he was criticized by “one of those new fellows out there” whose name he could not remember--Rep. Bruce A. Morrison (D-Conn.)--he challenged the congressman to “put my name and your name on your next poll letter and see who’s the stronger in your district.”

As O’Neill sees it, there is no need for the Democratic Party to change its image because America’s young people already are returning to liberalism after a brief flirtation with the right. “I can see a change in the tone and attitude from the last election, when they were mesmerized by the Republican propaganda to how it is today,” he said.

“I think we are going to have tremendous gains in the next election,” O’Neill predicted, pointing to Senate Republicans’ vote to freeze Social Security. “I think that the Republicans are right over the hump now. They’re right over the barrel with regards to Social Security.”

I couldn’t do the things that Sam Rayburn did because the code of ethics wouldn’t allow me. I couldn’t call Internal Revenue to fix a case. I couldn’t call the Army (Corps of) Engineers and say, “Start digging a canal tomorrow,” with no authorization or appropriation.

Everything has changed in the Congress of the United States. The Speaker--nobody ever questioned him. At the same time, old Sam couldn’t name 20 members of the Congress. And I don’t ever recall him going into anybody’s district to campaign for them, to raise funds for them or hustle here or there for the party. He was above all that.

Sam would call up and tell the secretary of defense: “I want (you) in the office at 3 p.m.” He was there. Maybe the rules haven’t changed concerning that, but the thought and the ethics and the closeness of the media and how people follow, they would never permit the things that Sam did.

Ever since he became Speaker in 1977, O’Neill has been cast in the role of an old-fashioned politician struggling to adjust to rapid changes in the system--including the gradual erosion of the powers of his office.

“O’Neill is the last of the old school,” a White House official said. “He may go down in history as the last of the autocrats. He is a character in the best sense of the word.”

The breakdown of party discipline, the proliferation of House subcommittees, the growing influence of television--these developments frequently have been the cause of O’Neill’s troubles. The Speaker, O’Neill said, lacks the power of his predecessors to accomplish many of the tasks that are asked of him.

“When I came to the Congress of the United States, about 80% of the people in this party had either been a mayor of a city, had been a district attorney, had been a county commissioner, had been a state legislator or a state senator,” O’Neill recalled. “Party politics was strong. And you followed discipline.”

Undercutting Authority

House Democrats who now complain about a lack of leadership are frequently the ones undercutting his authority, O’Neill said.

“Every fellow (member) has a legislative person who said, ‘Here’s the pros and cons of the legislation. Let’s have a little dialogue in the office among the employees and see how you should vote.’ Never mind voting with the leadership of your party. The same people that talk that way are the ones that criticize that the party isn’t going places.”

Despite his resentment, O’Neill has allowed younger Democrats the freedom to forge new policies for the party--even when he has disagreed with them.

“He’s been cooperative to the extent that he’s allowed some of the younger members to take a role,” McCurdy said. “That’s not easy for him to do, because his whole career has been the accumulation of power.”

Anyplace I can make Jim Wright look good, make him look strong, I’ll do it. Jim is the heir apparent and Jim has been my loyal right hand. Jim has stayed in the wings for 10 years and I’m about to draw the shade and leave the stage. And there’s no sense in having somebody that doesn’t have some experience along the line assume on e of these positions. And so I am giving things to him. But is he assuming things on his own without checking with me? The answer is no. All the options come to me. I’m the final one that makes the choice.

The merest suggestion that he is a lame-duck seems to anger the Speaker. According to press secretary Matthews, O’Neill has emphatically told fellow Democrats that he will not tolerate anyone saying he is not in charge.

“Tip O’Neill is the Democratic Party,” Matthews said. “He’s going to be in charge. He’s laid it on the line. He’s kept very tight reign on who speaks for the party.”

As for Wright, he is quick to note that he has no desire to take over from O’Neill until 1987. “He doesn’t have to hire a food taster while I am second in command,” Wright said.

Even so, many House members contend that O’Neill is slowly disappearing from the scene--devoting more and more time to his memoirs (for which he has received a $1-million publishers’ advance) and preparing for retirement.

“I don’t see him around as much,” said Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.). “If you want a decision, you see Jim Wright.”

Social Security Freeze

One frequently cited example of the Speaker’s inattention was an idea he floated in June to tax 85% of the Social Security benefits of high-income individuals and couples--a plan that nearly undermined his party’s bargaining position in budget negotiations with Senate Republicans. White House officials also recall a budget meeting in which O’Neill and Wright disagreed, and the Speaker deferred to his successor.

“Generally, it’s helping us,” a White House official said. “Over the long haul, the President is better with a little diffusion of power on the Hill. We find committee and subcommittee chairmen we can work with. We’re not going to get our way totally, but we do better with them than with an omniscient Speaker.”

House members on both sides of the aisle are unhappy about O’Neill’s apparent remoteness, however. As a result of it, they say, decision-making within the Democratic leadership is more diffuse, partisan rancor is rising and the Democrats no longer have a single spokesman.

Ironically, many Democrats yearning for new leadership are not pleased with Wright’s early takeover. Although viewed as less liberal than the Speaker, Wright is also seen as an old-school politician who lacks many of O’Neill’s best characteristics, including a warm personality. Said O’Neill himself:

“He’s not the outgoing fellow that I am. He’s not the hail-fellow-well-met. He’s not the backslapper that I am. He isn’t the conversationalist I am. He can’t tell jokes or stories, he can’t remember incidents that would apply to everything along the line. That’s just the nature of the person. He’s more like the style of old Sam Rayburn--Texas style.”