WASHINGTON INSIGHT

HAPPY DEMOCRAT: While most Democrats this week are bluer than the skies over Washington, there is an exception. CIA chief R. James Woolsey has admitted to friends that the Republican takeover of Congress makes his life easier. Woolsey, who was appointed by President Clinton, spent the last two years fighting Democrats’ attempts to cut the intelligence budget. Now he may have to contend with the more pleasant prospect of GOP attempts to add money as part of their push to strengthen national defense.

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TAMER BLUE YONDER: The Air Force is beating a “strategic withdrawal” from a bid by its former chief of staff, Gen. Merrill A. McPeak, to grab turf from the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Only a month after taking over, McPeak’s successor, Gen. Ronald R. Fogleman, has quietly written the congressional Commission on Roles and Missions asking that it withdraw McPeak’s controversial proposal to give the Air Force primary responsibility for maintaining U.S. military presence abroad--replacing the current practice of relying on Navy warships. He also has pulled back a much-criticized McPeak plan to eliminate the current Army-Navy-Air Force-Marine Corps special operations command, which oversees all Green Beret-style operations.

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UNUSUAL GIFT: Given George Bush’s presidential record as a strong protector and defender of the People’s Republic of China, few would expect generosity toward him today from the government of Taiwan, which China regards as a renegade province. Yet Taiwan is contributing a whopping $1 million to Bush’s presidential library. Benjamin Lu, Taiwan’s official representative to Washington, brought the money to the ground-breaking ceremonies, which were held Wednesday on the Texas A&M; campus in College Station. It’s worth recalling that during the last year of his presidency, Bush also moved to upgrade U.S. ties with Taiwan, including approving the sale of F-16 fighter jets to the island. Bush will give the keynote speech next month at a major conference in Taiwan.

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ALTMAN SIGHTING: Roger Altman, forced to resign as deputy Treasury secretary as a result of his role in the Whitewater affair following last summer’s congressional hearings, has surfaced in a new role at the White House. Altman has been working for the last couple of months in an unpaid, voluntary capacity to help arrange next week’s Summit of the Americas in Miami. He has been working on the summit with the staff of the National Economic Council, run by his old friend, council Chairman Robert E. Rubin. Altman plans to return to the private sector after the summit.

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SHOW ME, CALL ME? Clinton Administration lawyers managed to anger and embarrass Missouri’s Democratic attorney general last week when they held a press briefing to announce they would argue against the state in a desegregation case before the Supreme Court. The state had spent more than $1 million on the case since 1984. But to make matters worse, U.S. Solicitor General Drew S. Days forgot to tell state Atty. Gen. Jay Nixon before briefing reporters. “We were served with the news by the Associated Press,” said a steamed Nixon, the first Democrat to hold the job since 1968.