A Stockman Charge

It was, confessed Budget Director David Stockman, the worst week of toil he had ever experienced. An admitted workaholic, Stockman had averaged about five hours of sleep a night during the five days prior to the President's speech—a time, he said, "when things began to get interesting." Among other things, he had chaired a meeting of the Cabinet in Reagan's absence, a symbol of the President's intense trust in his judgment on economic matters. One congressional Democrat describes him as being "like Svengali, like Rasputin to the Tsar." But others are awed by...