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October 29, 2001 Clinton Cabinet Vets Provide Wartime Perspective to Daschle and Gephardt
By Ethan Wallison
Even as they forge a wartime partnership with President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.) and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) have turned increasingly to a shadow cabinet of former Clinton administration foreign policy experts for perspective on the evolving conflict.
Aides to the two leaders said the consultations should not be interpreted as an effort to gainsay steps taken by the Bush administration in its conduct of the war, and have produced no areas of relevant disagreement. But the group of informal advisers includes several experts who, among other things, played a key role in helping Gephardt crystallize his foreign policy views for an Aug. 2 speech that was highly critical of Bush's handling of international affairs. And the consultations come as Daschle and Gephardt have been virtually folded into Bush's wartime Cabinet, meeting with the President regularly and having near complete access to the administration's foreign policy team and intelligence. "I think anyone in this business would say it's better to have more information than less," said Erik Smith, a Gephardt spokesman. "We've got talented people out there in the party," he added. "And these are people who have had a good deal of close-up experience with the issues we're dealing with right now." Indeed, the group comprises a fair cross-section of Clinton's foreign policy team. Sandy Berger, the former president's national security adviser, appears to be the senior Clinton official with whom Gephardt and Daschle speak most regularly. But aides to both leaders say Richard Holbrooke, the former United Nations ambassador, has also been in regular contact. Some of the advice givers come from deep within the Clinton foreign policy structure. Among those who meet regularly with Gephardt, according to the lawmaker's aides, are Jim Steinberg, a former deputy director on Clinton's National Security Council; Tom Donilon, the chief of staff to Clinton's first secretary of State, Warren Christopher; and John Podesta, the former president's chief of staff. Gephardt aides say the leader has also "reached out" on foreign policy matters to former Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine), a key Clinton emissary, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who met privately with the leader in his Capitol office suite last Wednesday evening. It is not clear whether these advisers have been able to add significantly to the information the leaders already have access to through their new ties to the Bush foreign policy apparatus. But aides to both leaders say the former Clinton officials have brought valuable "context" to the situation. "It certainly gives [Daschle and Gephardt] some historical perspective from people who were there and can let us know what was going on inside the Clinton administration [regarding terrorism]," said Doug Hattaway, a Daschle spokesman. "Certainly that supplements the information [the leaders] have been getting" from Bush officials, he added. At a meeting Thursday, Steinberg gave Gephardt a rundown of preparations made to deal with potential terrorist threats surrounding the turn of the millennium, including information on how the Clinton White House set up a council with representatives from the key agencies, according to one senior Gephardt aide. Along with Podesta, Donilon and Steinberg, the meeting included Rudy DeLeon, a deputy Defense secretary under Clinton who is now the top lobbyist for aircraft giant Boeing. In an interview Podesta said it has been his impression that Gephardt is "interested" in what he has to say on the conflict, but refused to give any details of their discussions. Asked whether he thinks he has brought anything to the table that would add to the knowledge Gephardt gets through his consultations with Bush and his foreign policy team, Podesta said, "That's a question that would have to be asked of him." DeLeon also declined to discuss his advisory role in any detail except to say, "I meet with a lot of Members regularly." Donilon and Steinberg did not respond to phone messages. A top Gephardt aide said the leader has a "broad and comprehensive" vision on foreign policy, but that terrorism is "not something he [previously] spent a long time thinking about." In that respect the leader has some catching up to do, he suggested. Just recently, the aide noted, Gephardt put together a lunch with a number of experts on Islam recommended by the Clinton officials. "It's less about information than [about] context, advice," the aide said, characterizing the meetings. "The people advising Bush don't have the time to come up [to Capitol Hill] and spend an hour briefing us on the history and so forth." The aide also said the gatherings are a way for Gephardt to essentially get a "second opinion" on steps taken by the Bush administration in the war and were being used in part to develop a comprehensive "Democratic" perspective on global terrorism. But the aide stressed that "no light" has peeked between Bush and the top House Democrat thus far. The briefings have occurred as some Republicans have pointed accusing fingers at the Clinton administration for what they consider laxness and negligence in efforts to root out terrorism and terrorists, such as Osama bin Laden, whom the Bush administration says is behind the Sept. 11 attacks. Hattaway dismissed the notion that the consultations might be geared in any way toward developing a Democratic rebuttal to such charges. He said the advisers simply have information that they believe could be useful to Daschle. The evolution of the role being played by some of Clinton's former advisers would seem open to interpretation, however. Although Gephardt aides stressed that the leader sought out experts from the Clinton administration, some of Daschle's key contacts have appeared to be set up by the contacts themselves. "They've been very proactive about that," Hattaway said, referring to efforts by former Clinton foreign affairs experts to get the Senate Majority Leader's ear. The effort, Hattaway said, has been spearheaded by Jeremy Bash, who was a senior foreign policy aide on the Gore campaign. Hattaway indicated that Bash had arranged opportunities for Berger, among others, to speak with Daschle. Bash, a lawyer in Washington, did not respond to a phone message Friday. Podesta noted that there will always be some "partisans" on Capitol Hill who will blame Clinton for a variety of present-day problems, but said he's satisfied that the former administration's record will "stand up." Albright, Berger, Holbrooke and Mitchell did not respond to messages. |
