Clinton Swings Easy As Chief Of Staff Takes A Mulligan Top Aide Decides To Delay Resignation By Several Months

Tomorrow, tomorrow. President Clinton has won a reprieve in his dreaded search for a new chief of staff, much like he said Wednesday that his New Year’s resolutions could wait another day.

“I’m working on ‘em - tomorrow,” Clinton promised, a golf tee clenched in his teeth. Beginning 18 holes at the Arthur Hills Golf Course, the president was on Day Two of a six-day respite and had a bounce in his step as he counseled fellow golfers on their swings.

The news from back home was good: Erskine Bowles, the president’s valued chief of staff who has been eager to quit would stay on well into 1998. Three White House officials, all speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday that Clinton and Bowles would discuss a delayed timetable for his resignation when both men returned next week from their separate vacations.

“It’s feeling like we’re going to have him around for a while now,” one official said of Bowles.

Previously, the former investment banker privately suggested that he wanted to return to private life sometime in January. Clinton’s State of the Union address on Jan. 27 was one obvious target date.

The president, described by aides as in a state of denial, had not begun to seriously consider a replacement and was counting on persuading Bowles to stay. His decision to delay his retreat comes as welcome relief as Clinton heads into a crucial mid-term election year with a crowded agenda, aides said.

“When you’ve got a team you feel comfortable with and confident in, you do gain confidence from knowing it’s going to stay intact,” another official said.