Bush Talks With Many, Shares Power With Few : Who Has The President’s Ear? : White House: The inner circle consists of Sununu and Darman. The President is secretive, likes to surprise.

George Bush, the most gregarious President since Lyndon B. Johnson, is known far and wide for consulting with a broad range of people both inside and outside government. He rings up Democratic cronies from his days in Congress. He telephones old friends all around the country. He even makes unscheduled calls to other heads of state, filling in startled aides only afterward.

“It’s hard to keep up with who the President talks to,” said a senior Bush aide who also served in the Reagan White House. “With Ronald Reagan, I knew 100% of the calls he made. He did nothing that wasn’t structured; he’d be given a briefing sheet and make a call. But George Bush may make 25 calls and I might hear about two or three of them from people who said he called.”

Yet, for all of Bush’s overt personal contacts with the outside world, beneath the surface he has concentrated more power in the White House and placed it in fewer hands than any President since Richard M. Nixon. Indeed, Bush delegates so little and to so few, especially those outside the White House, that he seems to have adopted Harry S. Truman’s old motto: “The buck stops here.”

Longtime advisers such as Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Treasury Secretary Nicholas F. Brady and Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher unquestionably enjoy special relationships with the President. National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft’s seasoned counsel and conceptual thinking are ever-present in foreign policy deliberations. A handful of others, including Republican Party Chairman Lee Atwater, regularly exercise substantial influence in particular areas.

Still, when it comes to making final decisions and wielding the power of the presidency to back them up, the Bush inner circle is so small that, particularly on domestic matters, it sometimes consists of just three people--all of them in the White House: John H. Sununu, chief of the White House staff; Richard G. Darman, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the President himself.

Gone are the days of “Cabinet government,” in which Presidents such as Reagan sought to give the central role in making and implementing policy to the secretary of state, the Treasury secretary and the other heads of Cabinet-level agencies.

Gone too is government by “Kitchen Cabinet,” the time-honored system--dating to Andrew Jackson in the 1820s--of relying for advice and counsel on a small circle of trusted confidants, often outside government entirely.

Two-Stage System

Instead, during the first 10 months of his presidency, Bush has established a two-stage system of governing that seems uniquely tailored to his own personality and style:

--Restlessly gregarious and approachable, the President is eager to touch every base and hear all shades of conflicting opinion at the information-gathering and consulting stage.

--Secretive and fond of surprises, Bush plays things close to the vest and concentrates power in only a few hands when it comes to making a major decision or carrying it out, as illustrated by his recent announcement that he had been negotiating since last August for the December meeting with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in Malta.

So insatiable is the President’s appetite for outside contact that even some of his most loyal supporters worry that it takes up too much of his time. “The President is almost hyperactive,” said one longtime adviser. “He has little time for reflection.”

Others see beneath the surface of Bush’s whirlwind activity an absence of commitment to substance on important policy issues. Walter Williams of the University of Washington Graduate School of Public Affairs, who has studied power and decision-making in the last three presidencies, characterizes the Bush Administration as “a policy-less presidency where the top staff people reinforce Bush’s lack of domestic policy vision.”

Bush’s ceaseless reaching-out partly reflects a preoccupation with tactics, Williams said. Bush is constantly scouting the political terrain in quest of victories, he said, but “winning appears to be relatively independent of what is won.”

Whatever drives him, all agree that this President has gathered the threads of power close around him.

Extensive Experience

In the field of foreign policy and national security, Bush’s own experience is so extensive and his personal confidence so high, knowledgeable sources agree, that he calls most of the shots himself.

“Bush is a guy who is his own secretary of state and Baker is implementing his program,” said one longtime Bush adviser and admirer of Baker. “Baker can’t be a great secretary of state, an innovator in the style of Henry Kissinger or even Zbigniew Brzezinski, because Bush is his own foreign policy person.”

In the realm of domestic policy, where Bush’s own experience is less deep and his agenda relatively unformed, it is widely acknowledged within the Administration that Sununu and Darman dominate the field.

“You’re talking about two powerhouses, hard-driving men who really direct domestic policy from the White House,” Williams said.

A senior Bush aide agreed: “Sununu and Darman both are sensitive about the fact the Cabinet has a role to play in policy-making, and Sununu may even defer to a Cabinet official who feels strongly about an issue. But there’s no question about who the leading players are.”

No ‘Super Cabinet’

Early in the Administration, many assumed that, by turning to three close friends--Baker to be secretary of state, Brady to head Treasury and Mosbacher to be commerce secretary--Bush was assembling a “super cabinet” that would have extraordinary clout.

But, because Bush himself is so hands-on in his method of operating and because he delegates authority so sparingly, it has not worked out that way.

Baker, Brady and Mosbacher all have easy access to Bush, of course, and Baker spends a lot of time talking with him in person and on the phone. None of the three Cabinet members entirely dominates even his own assigned area, however, much less exercises broader power over the Administration as a whole.

Some had also expected CIA Director William H. Webster to be a force in policy-making, especially since Bush himself once headed the agency and Webster’s immediate predecessor, the late William J. Casey, had been a formidable player behind the scenes. However, both Webster and Bush have said that the government’s top intelligence official should confine himself to providing the President with information and analysis and not cross the line into advocating particular policies.

As a result, Webster plays the more traditional role at the CIA. He enjoys a measure of personal friendship and contact with Bush, however; the two play tennis together, and Bush was one of those who helped Webster through the difficult period when his wife, Drew, died several years ago.

Sununu, a brainy, strong-willed former New Hampshire governor, spends far more time with the President than anyone except First Lady Barbara Bush. And Sununu has a regular meeting with Darman every morning before the chief of staff sees Bush, assuring that the two stay in sync.

Sununu prides himself on seeing that Cabinet officials have access to the President and says he does not know of a single instance in which he has failed to respond positively to a Cabinet officer’s request to see Bush.

He could hardly do otherwise because Bush insists on being accessible. In fact, he regularly contacts so many people himself and solicits so many views that there is little danger he would ever fall into the kind of Oval Office isolation that sometimes robbed Ronald Reagan of basic information about what was happening in his own Administration and beyond.

Judging from what his aides say about his telephone habits, Bush, who has accumulated numerous friends and acquaintances in more than two decades of being on the national political scene, must have the world’s largest Rolodex.

Calls Friends, Foes

Bush makes spur-of-the-moment calls to people such as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and the secretary of state usually does not learn about the calls until Scowcroft learns about them from the President.

Either to lobby on a piece of legislation or just to discuss political gossip or intelligence, Bush frequently places calls to Capitol Hill--to Republican leaders or old pals such as Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.) or even Democrats such as Rep. G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery of Mississippi, Sen. J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana and Rep. Dan Rostenkowski of Illinois, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

“The President just calls to ask what’s up and discuss how things are going,” said Montgomery, who entered Congress in 1968, the same year Bush came here as a freshman from Texas.

Rostenkowski, whom the President invited on a recent golf outing, became friends with Bush when Bush was on Ways and Means during his days in Congress. The relationship helped Bush get his capital gains proposal off the ground earlier this year.

GOP Grumbling

Bush’s penchant for socializing with Democrats has irritated some Republicans, especially in Congress. Not long ago, one Bush adviser recalls, some GOP insiders were grumbling that “the President’s got to stop getting Bennett over to the White House so much. I said that’s going to be a tough one because Bush plays tennis with him, and he likes him.”

In addition, the President frequently telephones old friends and former aides, such as Vic Gold, a Washington writer, and Peter Teeley, a Washington public affairs consultant--usually just to exchange political intelligence.

Gold and Teeley both have extensive contacts in politics and the media and are known as two of Washington’s keenest political observers.

Bush stays in close contact--by phone and in person--with Atwater, who helped direct his 1988 presidential campaign, and with Robert Teeter, a political consultant who was a top campaign aide.

Atwater, a combative political strategist, says he does most of his business at the White House with Sununu, who, among other things, serves as the chief in-house political operative. However, Atwater talks directly to Bush two or three times a week, usually on the weekend, just to keep him abreast of political developments.

‘Compartmentalized’

Although some of the President’s calls may involve personal or political chit-chat, a senior adviser said: “He is an amazingly compartmentalized guy. He compartmentalizes his friends and advisers. He doesn’t discuss politics with some and does with others. He discusses issues with some and not with others. And sometimes we don’t know what he talks about.”

For example, the adviser said, “he doesn’t get political advice from Mosbacher or Brady because they’ve got a tin ear for politics.”

Because of their old-boy ties, Brady and Mosbacher--like Baker--do have an easy, personal relationship with the President, often marked by mutual ribbing. When Bush walked by a Cabinet meeting about 8:15 a.m. one day recently, Brady pointed to his watch to tease the President about showing up late. Shortly afterward, he received a handwritten message delivered by a secretary from the Oval Office: “I want you to know I was here at 7:15 and had to leave and come back.”

Few Minority Friends

The President talks to relatively few minorities because he has few among his friends or in his Administration. Aides say he occasionally talks with two prominent black men, NAACP Executive Director Benjamin L. Hooks and Arthur A. Fletcher, a former official in the Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations who served with Bush at the United Nations in 1971.

And he several times has talked on the phone and in person with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, but one aide said, “That’s mostly to drive the Democrats crazy.”

The only black member of the White House senior staff, congressional liaison chief Fred McClure, has relatively little contact with the President. Sununu, Darman and Bush himself do most of heavy lifting on Capitol Hill, sources say.

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater, who also served in the Reagan Administration, is one of those who exert significant influence in a particular area. He spends a great deal of time with Bush because of the day-to-day demands of dealing with the news media, and insiders say Bush has great respect for Fitzwater’s instincts on how to handle sensitive matters.

Vice President Dan Quayle has a weekly luncheon meeting with Bush. Like Bush when he was vice president, Quayle makes it a policy not to discuss what he says to the President. There is a widespread consensus among Administration officials, however, that Quayle has thus far not grown sufficiently in his job to be a factor in presidential decision-making.

Bush spends relatively little time talking with either HUD Secretary Jack Kemp or William J. Bennett, the drug czar, who operate mostly through the White House staff. But Bush aides say the President respects both officials and believes they are doing the best they can in difficult posts.

Nor does the President spend much time talking with the other Cabinet members.

In keeping with his pattern of consulting widely about major issues and policy matters, Bush has regular contact with most of the principal players throughout the system. On economic issues, for example, he talks regularly with Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. That is unlike Reagan, who rarely spoke to Greenspan’s predecessor, Paul A. Volcker, and then only in the most formal settings.

Jokes with Greenspan

Indeed, Bush is so close to Greenspan that he can even joke about their differences over the conduct of monetary policy. When Greenspan spent a night in the hospital last June after suffering from heat exhaustion, Bush called him the next morning. “If you raise interest rates,” the President reportedly said, “I’m going to put a crimp in your oxygen line.”

On national security and foreign affairs, where Bush has a strong background, he consults regularly with three officials whose ties with him date back many years: Secretary of State Baker, his longtime confidant and political adviser; Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, and Scowcroft, his national security adviser.

Also, Bush talks frequently with Robert M. Gates, Scowcroft’s deputy, and with Lawrence S. Eagleburger, deputy secretary of state. And he occasionally meets with groups of academic experts on foreign affairs brought in by Scowcroft.

Scowcroft provides strategic advice for Bush, helping him put his policies in a framework of interrelated issues and keeping them goal-oriented. Baker, who has always been more a deal maker than a strategist, bears major responsibility for implementing the policies.

“Bush is so intimately involved in foreign affairs and so clearly calling the shots that he essentially is his own secretary of state,” said a senior White House aide, who pictured Baker as so tied up running the State Department that he has had little time even to consider advising his old friend on other matters.

Baker Killed Speech

This does not mean Baker is a figurehead in the foreign policy area, as a recent episode with Gates illustrates.

When Gates proposed to make a speech expressing pessimism about Gorbachev’s chances of success, Baker ordered it rewritten. When revisions failed to satisfy him, Baker simply killed the speech outright.

The speech incident was telling in other ways, too. In recent months, the Administration has been engaged in a delicate public balancing act on its policy toward the Soviet Union: Bush and many of his inner circle are cautious about Gorbachev and his dramatic reform programs, yet U.S. allies and many Americans have expressed concern that Bush was letting a historic opportunity slip away.

Responding to such pressure, Bush has gradually expressed increasing support for Gorbachev’s reforms and--reflecting his penchant for reaching out for person-to-person contact--began negotiations to set up the informal meeting with Gorbachev in Malta. And Baker has been at the forefront of those within the Administration urging such initiatives.

Baker acknowledges that Bush “makes a lot” of Administration policy. “The President is supposed to make it, and the departments and agencies are supposed to carry it out and implement it,” he said.

The “best example,” said Baker, was the Administration’s response to the bloody crackdown by Chinese leaders on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing on June 3-4. “We talked--he and I and Brent Scowcroft--every day, two or three times a day, and it was all coordinated, but the positions were all the President’s.”

Bush, from the outset of his Administration, took the initiative in developing a new East-West policy that consummated in a major speech on May 12 at Texas A&M; University declaring that the United States was moving into a new, more cooperative relationship with the Soviet Union.

And it was the President himself who spearheaded the policy process that resulted in the boldest initiative of his presidency so far--the sweeping arms reduction proposal that other North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations ratified at their summit meeting in Brussels last May 30.

Domestic Strategy

On domestic issues, the President generally depends on Sununu and Darman to take the lead. And they do it with gusto--even when it involves the turf of Brady and Mosbacher.

Domestic policy is shaped with substantial Cabinet involvement in a process coordinated by Roger B. Porter, Bush’s assistant for economic and domestic policy, who served in the White House of both the Reagan and Ford administrations.

“He’s experienced,” said Brady. “By that I mean he’s been in at least one or two previous administrations, so he doesn’t need a vocabulary course--which is a problem for new people coming into government. He’s a good thinker, thoughtful. I always listen to what he says.”

In the end, though, as one senior Bush aide emphasized, “in most instances, the White House staff directs policy.” That means Sununu and Darman.

Mosbacher learned last spring that his old-boy relationship with Bush cut no ice if the powerful pair opposed one of his proposals. Mosbacher put forward an initiative for federal aid to help the fledgling U.S. high-definition television industry compete with Japan.

At the White House, Darman, joined by Michael J. Boskin, chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, criticized Mosbacher’s proposal. Although Darman had been saying for years that the federal government should make a greater investment in applied civilian research and development, he argued that it should be in generic technologies, not product-specific.

“High-definition TV didn’t fit my version of the appropriate criteria,” declared Darman, who enlisted the aid of Sununu to block the proposal. Sununu summoned Mosbacher to a White House meeting where his proposal was so severely criticized that the commerce secretary subsequently backed away from it.

Darman, a brilliant policy strategist and a workaholic who is one of the most ambitious members of the Bush inner circle, has also taken the lead on other issues, including tax matters, that normally are in the Treasury secretary’s domain.

At the beginning of the Administration, Darman established a negotiating process to resolve budget issues that made him the key player on almost every money-related item that goes to Congress. That put him in the role of deal maker, which he relishes, on many of the major issues, including the child-care and minimum-wage bills and legislation aimed at reducing the capital gains tax.

For example, said a White House aide, “the secretary of labor may testify before Congress on minimum-wage legislation, but if there’s a deal to be made, Darman will make it.”

Particularly when dealing with Treasury’s turf, Darman takes pains not to upstage Brady publicly. And, for his part, Brady is aware that Treasury took the lead on tax issues when Baker was Treasury secretary during the Reagan Administration and Darman was Baker’s deputy, but the Treasury secretary says he does not care who does the dealing, “as long as it’s effective.”

“I don’t feel deprived in any sense if Dick Darman has a thought on capital gains; I encourage him to express it and do something about it,” Brady said. “But we’re in very close coordination.”

Other Bush advisers agree that Brady is comfortable with Darman’s taking the lead on those issues. Said one: “Brady has a unique characteristic for Washington--he has no hang-up about power and is totally secure in who he is and what he’s about.”

Then, too, Brady can point to two major policy achievements where he was the major player: the S&L; bail-out plan and the Third World debt plan, both of which have been approved and implemented.

Through Sununu, leaders of the conservative lobby have had extraordinary access to the White House and several meetings with Bush himself. Such activists as David A. Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, and Paul M. Weyrich, chairman of Coalitions for America, say they have been exceptionally pleased with the access and the influence they have had in persuading Bush to withdraw several presidential nominations.

“What you have got to remember about Sununu,” said a senior Bush adviser, “is that he’s just as right-wing as those people he’s letting in the White House.”

But sometimes Sununu’s newness to Washington can backfire. Recently, Bush was forced to abandon his effort to win congressional approval for a capital gains cut, in part because the White House staff miscalculated the depth of opposition from Senate Democrats. “We keep having to tell the governor from time to time that it is not like dealing with the (New Hampshire) Legislature,” House GOP Leader Robert H. Michel said.

So far, the White House operations have been relatively smooth and free of the kind of infighting and backbiting that characterized the Reagan White House and other past presidencies. Unlike Reagan, Bush is active in running the White House, and he and Sununu give harmony a high priority.

“I’ve worked for five chiefs of staff, and this is the most harmonious staff I’ve seen,” said Fitzwater. “Staff members are not power hungry. The President is in charge, and he sets an unassuming tone. Everybody knows their power comes directly from him.”

Staff writers Art Pine, James Gerstenzang and Tom Redburn contributed to this story.