Friday, January 09, 2004
Similes Are Fun
AFP reports former secretary of the treasury Paul O'Neil says Bush led cabinet meetings "like a blind man in a room full of deaf people.":
The former insider told the network in an interview to be broadcast January 11 that the president asked him no questions during their first one-on-one meeting.
"I went in with a long list of things to talk about and, I thought, to engage (him) on. ... I was surprised it turned out me talking and the president just listening. ... It was mostly a monologue," O'Neill was quoted as saying.
Paul O'Neil and Larry Lindsey got pushed out on December 6, 2002. According to Business week, the problem was O'Neil's habit of not being sufficiently obsequious:
O'Neill has himself to blame for some of his problems. In a White House that demands discipline from its spokespeople, his comments were often painfully blunt and sometimes "off message." While President Bush was said to view O'Neill's candor as refreshing, other colleagues reacted with chagrin.
and
Capitol Hill Republicans were upset when, during O'Neill's confirmation hearing, he questioned whether Bush's tax cut proposal would do much to juice the economy. He later compounded the damaged by dismissing as "show business" House GOP tactics to win a big tax cut. That miffed conservatives, who viewed him as an enemy of supply-side tax cuts and an apologist for environmentalists on the controversial issue of global warming.
Larry Lindsey got canned because he was the guy who said the Iraq War could cost 200$ billion, among other things.
Personally I think Bush probably runs cabinet meetings more like a guy who's kind of dumb.
