John Podesta: Clinton's Mr. Fix-It http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/podesta093098.htm

By Lloyd Grove Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 30, 1998; Page D01

It's a good thing John Podesta has a sense of humor.

He's under inhuman stress these days as the White House official in charge of saving President Clinton from himself. It's a job that amounts to cleaning up after a rogue elephant

Podesta doesn't shrink from partisan combat. He recently lacerated the House GOP for releasing the president's grand jury testimony: "They decided that rather than just doing a document dump, they would do a garbage dump."

Yet Republicans who know Podesta say they trust and respect him -- a judgment they'd grant few others in the Clinton White House.

John's an excellent fellow," says Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) , who talks to Podesta regularly and would play a crucial role in any impeachment trial. "He did a great job when he worked on the Judiciary Committee" -- as chief counsel for Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) -- "and he does a great job at the White House. He's honorable, he's a good adviser, he's very bright, and he has that rare ability to be wise."

"My feeling is that John has a good moral point of view -- and he certainly has a tough job to do," says Rep. Denny Hastert (R-Ill.) , the chief deputy Republican whip and an old college pal of Podesta's brother Tony (the Podestas grew up in Chicago). "He's tried to do it with as much dignity and honesty as he could possibly bring forward."

Two weeks ago, when Salon magazine exposed House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde's ancient extramarital affair, Podesta promised the Illinois Republican that he'd fire any White House staffer who might have played a role in the story. "I will personally kick their ass out the door," Podesta vowed in a phone call.

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"I think that's credible," says **House Judiciary Committee Chief of Staff Tom Mooney . "And the chairman had no doubt that John would do it."

Mooney -- who got to know Podesta 15 years ago, when they were hammering out House-Senate Judiciary Committee conference reports together -- is another important Republican with whom Podesta will work as impeachment hearings loom. As for the question of which aide is feeling more strain these days -- the chairman's or the president's? -- Mooney is quick to answer. "I think John is, probably," he says. "We have a process. . . . John has somehow got to break into that process. If he's not trying to explode the process or disrupt the process, he has to make sure he's at least a part of that process." Mooney adds: "He's not in the ballgame yet."

House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) and his Senate counterpart Daschle -- who've been occasional critics of the president's handling of the affair -- have nothing but praise for Podesta.

"He's optimistic, he's always can-do, and he has a knack for understanding politics and politicians, and for understanding the members and how issues work in Congress," Gephardt says . "In this situation, you can get rattled. He doesn't do that, and that's very reassuring."

"I've never seen John lose it," says Daschle, to whom Podesta is especially close. "He's had the ability to stay very focused as they've gone through these very difficult weeks. He's also able to take disparate people and groups and find common threads and common ideas." Podesta found just such a common thread when Daschle alerted him three Sundays ago that he and Gephardt were about to issue stern condemnations of the White House's "legal hairsplitting."