Twin Departures Thicken the Gloom : Nussbaum and Mitchell: equal blows to Clinton

Suddenly a sadness is settling over the Clinton presidency. It is the sadness that comes from opportunities missed, wrong roads taken and the departures of problem friends and close allies alike.

In the past few days, the President has lost two such men--one a close friend, the other a valuable ally. It is hard to tell which of the two departures will cause more problems.

The resignation of White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum was inevitable and appropriate. The triggering events were related to the Whitewater controversy; the need now is to fill the sudden vacancy with an attorney whose competence is above question and whose past association with the Clintons is minimal. Another FOB--Friend of Bill--should not be selected. As Niccolo Machiavelli warned, the Prince is held responsible for the behavior of a chosen close adviser, especially if that adviser is a friend, far more than the adviser is held responsible for the behavior of the Prince.

In the same category of disruption as the Nussbaum resignation was Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell’s decision not to run for reelection this fall. The immediate effect of that was to throw wide open the competition for who is to be the next majority leader. Until Senate Democrats make that decision, the intelligent and accomplished Mitchell is a lame duck in the leadership post and the White House is without a key, powerful Senate ally.

Perhaps no one has worked harder or more successfully than Sen. Mitchell to keep the White House boat from rocking needlessly. His steadying hand will be missed, especially now that the Clinton presidency is at a crossroads.

Some kind of congressional hearing on Whitewater seems less and less avoidable. The fear is that it will be an absolute circus, with the net effect of immunizing testimony that should not be protected, thus making the prosecutorial task even harder. Now subpoenas are flying and dozens of top advisers and officials have been served, which may mean nothing--or everything. The office of the special counsel, which came into being at a stroke of the pen of Atty. Gen. Janet Reno last month, is in high gear even at this early date. That should help reassure the nation that the investigation will be thorough and honest.

Proper and absolutely necessary though it is, the probe by Special Counsel Robert Fiske casts a cloud over an Administration that seemed finally to be getting its presidential act together. One does not have to be a Democrat to hope that the nation will not be put through a debilitating agony, and the presidency through another slow and eventually fatal torture. Thus the sadness over the White House bodes to hang over Washington itself.