At Least 4 to Leave Cabinet as Clinton Begins New Transition

A victorious President Clinton flew back to Washington on Wednesday, as an exodus of Cabinet officials began and the White House moved swiftly to assemble a new team.

Mindful of the lengthy and awkward start-up that hurt Clinton’s first term, the White House wants a smooth transition to a second term. But the scope of the task became clear Wednesday, even before Air Force One touched down at Andrews Air Force Base to end its flight from Little Rock, Ark.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor, Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary and Defense Secretary William J. Perry plan to return to private life soon, leaving critical vacancies for Clinton to fill. On top of that, Transportation Secretary Federico Pena and Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros were expected to leave, sources said.

Among the senior White House staff members, Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta, longtime Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos, communications director Don Baer and domestic policy aide Rahm Emanuel are all departing.

The departures of Christopher, Kantor, Panetta and Perry would remove the most prominent Californians in the administration’s ranks. Panetta has been considering the possibility of running for governor.

Atty. Gen. Janet Reno wishes to stay, but it is unclear whether she will survive the doubts of White House aides who consider her difficult to work with and possessed of bad political judgment.

“We’ll be doing a lot of work in the next week on all that,” Clinton said during an impromptu discussion aboard Air Force One.

Even more broadly, the president faced a raft of second-term challenges that had been eclipsed in recent weeks by the demands of the campaign. Those issues ranged from smoldering foreign-policy problems to such domestic headaches as stabilizing the Medicare program and dealing with the new Congress.

Despite the mounting pressures, however, Wednesday was a day of celebration and redemption for a president who was virtually written off by many members of his own party and political analysts as recently as two years ago.

For one day, at least, the bright afterglow of victory seemed the dominant theme.

“Today we just want to savor what happened yesterday,” Clinton told reporters. Indeed, the president allowed himself a touch of levity on the trip back to the White House, putting on a “fun-meter” button given him by a photographer. The fun-meter registered “max.”

“I’m just elated,” Clinton said.

Top-Level Analysis

In a wide-ranging discussion, Clinton offered his own analysis of the victory, pointing to the economy, the Oklahoma City bombing, reduced crime and a recent series of deals with Congress as crucial factors in his political comeback.

The economic plan of 1993, which raised taxes primarily on the wealthy while limiting federal spending, paid off with lower interest rates and a growing economy, Clinton said, adding that “the American people finally began to feel it in 1996.”

The “awful tragedy” of Oklahoma City affected the national mood in an entirely different way, the president suggested. It transformed the way many voters thought about federal employees, in effect jolting them from the hostility toward government, he said.

“I think they saw their federal employees in a new and positive and human light,” the president said. “And I think this sort of hysterical, anti-government rhetoric began to fade from the scene.”

Cooperation Helped

Clinton also said that recent cooperation between the White House and Congress on the budget, welfare reform, the minimum wage and health insurance were positive for the nation that offered political benefit not only to Clinton but to congressional Republicans.

“If we can somehow recreate for the next four years the spirit that prevailed in the last six weeks of the Congress, we can do great things,” Clinton said.

Yet even on a day of hope and enthusiasm, the mundane realities of keeping an administration on track were not forgotten, particularly since Clinton’s success or failure in launching a second administration may be viewed as a sign of how much he has learned from past mistakes.

“I’d hate to see us win the election and lose the transition,” said a senior White House official, referring to the many difficulties of the first transition.

Kantor told Clinton that he was leaving to return to California. O’Leary wished to stay, but had fallen from favor, in part because of her travel for the government that was often mocked in the campaign by GOP nominee Bob Dole.

Officials said no official word on replacements was likely before Friday.

Christopher will make a formal announcement of his departure today or Friday, a State Department official said. But Christopher “intends to remain very active, and to stay until his successor is sworn in,” the official said.

Candidates Mentioned

A leading candidate for his post is former Sen. George J. Mitchell of Maine, two administration officials said. Others whose names are being circulated include Madeleine Albright, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke, the former assistant secretary of State who negotiated the Bosnian peace accord, Indiana Sen. Richard G. Lugar, a Republican, and former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.).

Christopher leaves after a string of partial foreign policy successes that include at least temporarily stopping the war in the Balkans, halting North Korean efforts to develop nuclear weapons and bringing a measure of democracy to Haiti. Yet his lack of personal flamboyance and a penchant to delegate huge chunks of authority and responsibility to others combined to leave him with little of the personal credit for these victories.

Conversely, during his first two, problem-plagued, years in office, his bland style of leadership had the effect of further blurring at times vague policies of a new and uncertain president. It was a style that frustrated allies abroad and drew such heavy criticism at home that he nearly quit in late 1994.

Perry, who disclosed his plans during a midmorning meeting with his senior staff, had been reluctant to take the job in the first place and has been rumored for months to be ready to leave Washington. His wife, Lee, had been said to be unhappy and eager to return to California, where he taught for years at Stanford University.

The defense chief, who had served as deputy secretary under Clinton’s first Pentagon boss, onetime Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), had been one of the most widely respected members of the president’s foreign policy team and a major influence on Clinton’s thinking.

A career mathematician who was hailed earlier as the father of the radar-evading Stealth bomber, Perry took over a Defense Department that was disorganized and in disarray, pulled it together and won backing from Congress for Clinton’s Haiti and Bosnia policies.

In recent months, Perry, 69, had been showing some signs of strain from a grueling international travel schedule and the press of running the biggest single department in the government.

He also had been encountering criticism in Congress after the terrorist bombing of a U.S. military housing complex at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, last summer. Although Perry publicly took responsibility for the inadequate security, he lost some stature over the incident.

Deutch to Pentagon?

Perry told his staff on Wednesday that he planned to return to California and “teach, write and think.” An investment banker, he has served as a consultant for several corporations.

Among those mentioned to replace him are John M. Deutch, director of central intelligence, Nunn, former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Jamie S. Gorelick, formerly the Pentagon’s general counsel and now deputy attorney general. Gorelick is also a possible replacement for Reno or for Deutch, should he move to the Pentagon. She would be the first female secretary of defense if chosen for that post.

The Clintons swept into Washington to a warm welcome from political supporters and administration aides.

Times staff writers Tyler Marshall, Art Pine and Doyle McManus in Washington and John M. Broder in Los Angeles contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Cabinet Shuffle

Here are some of the change anticipated in President Clinton’s Cabinet.

Secretary of Defense

Departing: William J. Perry.

Possible: John M. Deutch, director of central intelligence, and former deputy defense secretary.

Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, retiring in January from the Senate after four terms.

*

Secretary of State

Departing: Warren Christoper.

Possible: Madelaine Albright, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Richard Holbrooke, former assistant of state, negotiated Bosnia peace agreement.

George Mitchell, former Senate majority leader, Maine Democrat.

Richard Lugar, Republican senator from Indiana, former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

*

Attorney General:

Departing: Janet Reno, speaks as though she plans to remain, but many White House aides want her to go.

Possible: Jamie S. Gorelick, currently deputer attorney general.

Mickey Kantor, secretary of commerce.

*

Secretary of Commerce

Departing: Mickey Kantor

Possible: Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty, former White House chief of staff.

*

Secretary of Transportation:

Departing: Federico Pena. His future is not certain, but insiders are predicting he will be replaced.

Possible: Federal Highway Administration chief Rodney E. Slater

Ann Richards, former Texas governor

William Daley, brother of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley Jr. and a candidate for the job four years ago.

*

Secretary of Energy:

Departing: Hazel O’Leary.

Possible: Charles Curtis, deputy secretary of energy.

Rep. Bill Richardson, Democrat from New Mexico.

*

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency:

Departing: John M. Deutch, ma leave

Possible: Retiring Sen. William S. Cohen (R-Maine), well-liked in Congress and familiar with intelligence issues, author of spy murder mysteries.

Gorelick.

*

White House Chief of Staff:

Departing: Leon E. Panetta.

Possible: Erskine Bowles, a South Carolina businessman and former head of the Small Business Administration.

Harold M. Ickes, deputy chief of staff.

Samuel “Sandy” Berger, deputy national security adviser.

Kantor