January 11, 2004
Confessions of a white house insider.
Time Magazine
reviews and discusses Ron Suskind's new book on former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's revelations about his time in the Bush White House, "The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House and the Education of Paul O'Neill."
I mentioned some of what O'Neill has to say in two prior posts,
here and
here. But this article goes into more detail and offers a chilling glimpse of a president and vice president that apparently couldn't care less what anybody else thinks, including their own closest advisors and supporters. The degree of their arrogance is chilling, even after several years of getting used to it.
So, what does O'Neill reveal? According to the book, ideology and electoral politics so dominated the domestic-policy process during his tenure that it was often impossible to have a rational exchange of ideas. The incurious President was so opaque on some important issues that top Cabinet officials were left guessing his mind even after face-to-face meetings. Cheney is portrayed as an unstoppable force, unbowed by inconvenient facts as he drives Administration policy toward his goals.
O'Neill's tone in the book is not angry or sour, though it prompted a tart response from the Administration. "We didn't listen to him when he was there," said a top aide. "Why should we now?"
There are many revelations here, about the tax cuts, the war in Iraq, WMDs, plans for corporate governance in the wake of Enron and the other corporate scandals, and more. O'Neill is a genuine insider, having served in three administrations, and besides his time in the Treasury Department, also served on the National Security Council.
You really have to read the entire thing, especially if you still think that re-electing Bush could possibly be good for the country. Or even that Bush cares about the country at all. The picture here is of a man who cares only about politics and ideology, and courting his corporate constituency, no matter the effect on the rest of the world. Frightening.
