The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill

The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill Ron Suskind Date: 13 January, 2004   —   $17.68   —   Book product page Rating:

Suskind and President Bush's Treasury Secretary, Paul O'Neill, paint a pretty disturbing picture of how business gets done in the Bush White House. The firsthand accounts by O'Neill confirm Bush's former 'faith based initiatives' czar, John DiIulio's assessment, "There is no precedent in any modern White House for what is going on in this one: a complete lack of a policy apparatus. What you've got is everything, and I mean everything, being run by the political arm. It's the reign of the Mayberry Machiavellis."

Think about that. Then think about what kind of policy has come out of Bush's White House. These guys do everything based on politics. When O'Neill points out that politics should not, and can not drive economic policy without bad things happening -- like recession, job loss, record borrowing by the federal government, debt that has the potential to completely wreck the US economy -- Bush fires him and "senior administration officials" (usually a euphemism for Cheney or 'Scooter' Libby) dismiss the Treasury Secretary's comments as the ravings of a mad man: "We didn't listen to [O'Neill's] wacky ideas when he was in the White House, why should we start listening to him now." HELLO! He's the Treasury Secretary! He was a very successful CEO and was hand-picked by Cheney himself.

O'Neill's strategy was to continue the work of Greenspan and his predecessor, Robert Rubin. You know, the guys who gave us the longest period of economic growth in the history of the United States. Bush's strategy was to cut taxes for the rich, never veto a Republican pork spending bill, and damn the deficit, "Reagan proved deficits don't matter." Which idea do you think is wacky?

Most memorable moments from the book: 1) Bush says to White house Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, "You're the chief of staff. You think you're up to getting us some cheeseburgers?" 2) Bush, Ashcroft, and Rice are sitting around the cabin at Camp David singing "Amazing Grace" while O'Neill leafs through a document CIA Director George Tenet brought over, "It laid out a span of covert activity around the globe, including plots and assassinations -- a plan to neutralize people disposed against the U.S. government by any means necessary. At its core was the enabling provision that there be virtually no civilian oversight. What I was thinking is, 'I hope the President really reads this carefully. But I knew he wouldn't.'"

The book is an easy read and it makes a great companion to Robert Rubin's book, "In An Uncertain World". In fact, if you read that book first, then compare it to this one, it's easy to see why we're still trying to claw our way out of the short-term economic hole that Bush dug for us, and why Bush's successor (along with the millions who depend on Social Security, Medicare, and any number of other government services) is screwed when the long-term economic consequences kick in.

Of his tenure at the White House, O'Neill says, "I realized that it's very hard for an organization or an institution to achieve more than the leader can imagine." Amen, brother.