The Last Battles

(4 of 4)

Complicating all calculations is the pressure of time. Though he will be in office two more years, Reagan really has at most twelve months in which to get his Administration moving again. Congressional Democrats, similarly, have only until the end of 1987 to answer the question that Byrd rightly poses for this year's legislative session: "Can the Democrats govern in the post-Reagan era?" By next January the 1988 presidential campaigns will be in full swing in both parties, and any new initiatives will have to be put on hold until after the election. Both Reagan and the Democrats in Congress need to get off to a solid start in the next few months. They have yet to give any real proof that they will, or even can, do so.