THE DIFFICULTIES for Republican representatives who want a more progressive look for their party were dramatically illustrated at the House Republican Conference on January 14. First, the conference kept a conservative monopoly on the leadership by rejecting the bid of moderate Peter Frelinghuysen, Jr., of New Jersey to replace Leslie C. Arends of Illinois as party whip. Then, with a standing ovation, the conference welcomed into its ranks Albert W. Watson, the South Carolina Democrat who resigned from his party after House Democrats had deprived him of committee seniority for supporting Barry Goldwater. The message of the two acts was quite emphatic because of the rebuke to the new minority leader, Gerald R. Ford, Jr., of Michigan, who had recommended Frelinghuysen in order to give the outnumbered liberals and moderates some voice in policymaking. For liberals, particularly those belonging to an informal group known as the Wednesday Club, the episode shattered any illusion that they had gained strength as a result of the disaster suffered by the party last November 3. The Frelinghuysen rejection, in fact, was an ungracious slap at the Republicans who survived the Johnson landslide with the most ease...

AN OLD FRIEND, encountering Representative Wilbur D. Mills in a Washington restaurant recently, reached out and squeezed the Arkansas congressman's arm. "Does it feel sore?" he asked. Mills showed a trace of a smile. "I haven't felt anything yet," he replied. Behind the jest was a serious issue: whether Lyndon B. Johnson, for all his Congressional arm-twisting, can persuade Mills to accept the principle of medical care for the aged financed through Social Security or a similar payroll-tax plan. This would represent a breakthrough for Medicare supporters, and might just be enough to send the program through Congress this year. There are many reasons why Medicare has never been approved, but the main obstacle has been Mills. As chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, where all Social Security and tax bills must originate, Mills has blocked a bill from the House floor for seven years. Although Mills has repeatedly turned aside administration pleas, there have been recent reports, perhaps based more on hope than on substance, that his opposition to the Social Security approach of the King-Anderson Medicare bill is softening...

For most Americans, one dynamic young man, Tom Mboya of Kenya, symbolizes the onrush of African nationalism in the last few years. On his several trips to the United States, he has been publicized in rallies, television shows, and newspaper interviews. He is, for America, the magazine cover boy of Africa. But despite all the American cheers, Mboya is in deep political trouble at home, and some of the trouble stems from those very cheers. Mboya has qualities that appeal to western taste. He is vigorous. He is efficient. He is moderate, though always frank and direct, in his speech. He seems to combine the shrewdness of a politician with the honor of a statesman. Even the British settlers in Kenya, long displeased with the American encouragement of Mboya, have now come to regard him as a main hope for their survival when the colony becomes independent, perhaps some time this year or next. They trust him and would help him. The vision of an independent Kenya led by Mboya has replaced their shattered dream of a white man's Kenya. But Mboya, now thirty-two, will not be at the helm when Kenya becomes independent...