SANTA YNEZ, Calif. -- Interior Secretary James Watt was in good spirits Monday, satisfied his resignation was 'the right decision' to spare the president further political damage, an aide said.
'It seems now was the time he'd known had to come,' press secretary Douglas Baldwin told reporters at the 71-acre ranch where Watt is vacationing. 'Now seemed the best time to go.'
He said Watt made his final decision just before calling President Reagan Sunday afternoon at Camp David.
'He called the president ... to say strongly, in his opinion, this was the right time,' Baldwin said.
Watt 'feels he's made the right decision,' he said.
The spokesman said Watt has received numerous phone calls from people expressing 'sympathy and regret that he's left, but understanding that he had to do that because the time has come and he did not in any way want to hurt the president.'
Baldwin said an anticipated no-confidence vote from the Republican-controlled Senate was important in Watt's decision, because Watt feared it 'might hurt the president.'
The Senate had been expected to vote next week on a resolution urging Reagan to fire Watt, and there were indications the resolution had enough Republican support to pass.
Baldwin said the outcry over Watt's description of members of a coal-leasing advisory panel as 'a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple' was a major factor in Watt's decision to leave the cabinet.
He said Watt's chief concern was preventing further political damage to Reagan, who Watt 'is praying' will seek re-election.
Baldwin said the decision to resign was 'bound to hurt,' but Watt 'is taking it very well. He was prepared for this.
'He tends to be an up person,' Baldwin said. 'All through the last 2 years he was the one who buoyed us up when things weren't going well.'
Watt, he said, is satified 'most of his programs are in place' in the Interior Department and has 'given no consideration' to the question of who should succeed him.
Watt is expected to stay on in his post until a successor is named, but he may spend until at least Thursday in seclusion at the Santa Ynez Valley Ranch owned by former Interior Department aide Thomas Barrack.
Barrack said the interior secretary was in 'tremendous' spirits Monday, adding, 'The man has remarkable energy and resilience.'
