The truth was, Baker had cleverly seized the levers of power. While Meese was technically in charge of “policy,” Baker was in charge of executing it; the chief also controlled information to and from the president, and the daily message. Meese was left, as one observer put it, “with a nice title and a fancy office and little else.” Baker states it more diplomatically. “I worked it out in a way that Ed could handle—and I was still in a position to run everything.”
