THE ADMINISTRATION: Not Much Cheer for Liberals

During the campaign, and even after he entered the White House, Jimmy Carter kept people guessing as to whether he was at heart a liberal or a conservative. There was ample evidence to support either view. But last week, over breakfast at the White House, many liberal Democrats feared they had glimpsed the real Carter—and the sight struck them as unnervingly conservative.

Carter left top congressional Democrats stunned by announcing that he meant what he had been saying about balancing the federal budget by the end of his first term. New spending programs would have to be scrapped; some existing...