Stockman Accuses Reagan of Self-Deception

Former Budget Director David A. Stockman on Friday accused President Reagan of “self-deception” and charged that “there’s no consistent, credible or serious intellectual content to Reaganism.”

Stockman, the man Reagan picked to head his assault on government spending, said: “After four years (on the job), I had to conclude that what comes out of the White House typewriter is all hot air.”

Stockman, who resigned his Cabinet post in August, 1985, and is now a director of a top Wall Street investment firm, made the attack in an interview in Omni magazine.

“There is a startling disconnection between Reagan the campaigner, the scourge of big government, and Reagan the chief executive officer of the American government,” Stockman said.

“He has proved to be very pragmatic. Constituencies are given their due and, if they demonstrate, he’s willing to call it a day. That’s what he did on Social Security, on farm programs, even aid to education,” he said.

Stockman, 39, said Reagan’s inaction on budget cuts mirrors the “ambivalence” of the public on the issue. Reagan “plays to the ambivalence of the American public. There’s a big element of self-deception,” he said.