Extracted text

OCR Page 1 of 4
Frabberg not I ches pren clus -Icht EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 03-May-1996 10:43am TO: Janice A. Enright TO: Douglas B. Sosnik TO: Evelyn S. Lieberman TO: Jodie R. Torkelson TO: Rahm Emanuel FROM: Barry J. Toiv Office of the Chief of Staff SUBJECT: PRESIDENT'S ADVANCE MAN DOESN'T ALWAYS MAKE PRESIDENT HAPPY Date: 05/03/96 Time: 08:39 CPresident's Advance Man Doesn't Always Make President Happy WASHINGTON (AP) Buffalo roamed at the edges of the Wyoming meadow, shaded by cotton ball clouds and pines until a sleek, black limousine rumbled into view. In a flash, the spooked animals fled into the woods ... and were gone. The picture-perfect scene was ruined. And President Clinton, wearing hiking boots and jeans for his summertime visit to Yellowstone National Park, was furious. Red-faced, he jabbed a finger at staff member Mort Engelberg and demanded to know why his four-wheel-drive Suburban, the president's favored mode of vacation travel, hadn't been there instead of the decidedly out of place limo. '`Old Faithful should blow so high,'' an aide later quipped. But Engelberg, a fulltime Hollywood producer and part-time Clinton aide, survived the 1995 summer vacation misstep and remains one of the most valuable members of the White House ''advance team,'' a gung-ho group of Clintonites who produce presidential events. He survived another blowup this week. Political director Harold Ickes admonished Engelberg for mishandling the choice of a student-speaker at a Clinton event Tuesday in Miami. The White House apologized to local school officials after Engelberg clumsily rejected a community group's selection of a young man to introduce Clinton. Engelberg had violated the most important tenet of the advance team: Don't get noticed. His job is supposed to be stealthy and subtle, melding sights and sounds for settings that are pleasing to the camera's eye. When done right, all the stage-managing looks unmanaged. And supporters say Engelberg is perfectly cast as producer of Clinton productions. Though not well known outside the movie world, his credits