Staff time.

JUST WHAT is wrong with the White House operation is manifest in the following brief excertpts from the December 3 NEw Republic. See if you can guess who wrote them. "As the first reel of the Reagan era ends and the second begins, the President must be wondering if the audience will still be in the theater when the movie ends. Indeed, applause from election day is already dying out." "Newt Gingrich, the intellectual leader of the hot-eyed young conservatives in the House . . ." "However insufferable some of Reagan's supporters on the New Right may be . . ." "Whether the President and his team face up to the reality of the deficit before January is the most important issue hanging over them." Reagan must now convince [the Soviets] that if they return to the table the United States is prepared to be flexible."

You might think that these words, dripping with contempt for Ronald Ronald Reagan, were written by one of The NEw Republic's regulars, Michael Kinsley maybe, or Leon Wieseltier, or Sidney Blumenthal. Well, wrong. They were written by David Gergen, former Director of Communications in the Reagan White House. His New Republic article is called "Reel Two, Take One." Get it? The old boy is just an actor.

The President has already accomplished a great deal. He has revised the national agenda, changed the terms of political discussion; he has demonstrated that taxes can be lowered. His second term can be the climax of his remarkable political career. He has the opportunity, now, to press forward: dismantle the federal income-transfer mechanism, eliminate reverse discrimination, thwart Castroism . . . but in order to complete the long march of his political career, he requires colleagues who understand his agenda, and his real abilities. It is time for some house-cleaning.