Mike Allen of Politico has some quotes from the new Suskind book, this one on conflicts within the Obama economic team.
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EXCERPTS:
--"Enough was enough, [White House chief of staff] Rahm Emanuel decided. ... He summoned the two competing super-egos, [economic adviser Larry] Summers and [budget director Peter] Orszag, and told them to make peace. After all, they were each responsible for huge swaths of the federal government. And they were fighting at every turn. After a bit of delicate negotiations, it was decided that they'd meet once a week for dinner and see how it worked. So, that night, Orszag settled into a white-clothed table at the Bombay Club, a posh Indian restaurant across Lafayette Park, a favorite of lobbyists and White House officials.
"Summers walked in, slightly late, but not impolitely so, and met Orszag at the table. And then it was the two of them. Orszag hoped that this time the White House would be less fraught with strife than the last go-round during the 1990s. Summers said it kind of came with the territory. This talk of their shared history seemed to thaw things out. They both grabbed for the plate of flatbreads ... and tore corners at the discus-sized breads. 'You know, Peter, we're really home alone.' Over the past few months, Summers had said this, in a stage whisper, to Orszag and others as they left the morning economic briefings in the Oval Office. ... 'I mean it,' Summers stressed. 'We're home alone. There's no adult in charge. Clinton would never have made these mistakes.'"
--"The Obama presidency didn't end in the fall of 2009, but it came close. 'The worst period of his presidency,' was the conclusion of Anita Dunn, reflecting on it more than a year later. 'That horrific period in November ... health care dragging on and on, economy is not looking good, horrible jobless recovery ... that was a TERRIBLE time. ... Everyone was in a terrible mood.' ... Dunn, the outspoken White House communications director, had been brought in to the West Wing to help the president navigate the rocky first few months of his term. 'It was a mess,' she said. Dunn quickly instigated a better scheduling system and fought, with futility, to heal the growing gender divide. ...
"'The president has a real woman problem' was the assessment of another high-ranking female official. 'The idea of the boys' club being just Larry and Rahm isn't fair. He [Obama] was just as responsible himself.' ... '[L]ooking back,' recalled Anita Dunn, when asked about it nearly two years later, 'this place would be in court for a hostile workplace ... Because it actually fit all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace to women.'"
--"[O]n February 14 [2011], the president meditated on the most important things he'd learned as president ... 'The area in my presidency where I think my management and understanding of the presidency evolved most, and where I think we made the most mistakes, was less on the policy front and more on the communications front. I think one of the criticisms that is absolutely legitimate about my first two years was that I was very comfortable with a technocratic approach to government ... a series of problems to be solved. ... Carter, Clinton and I all have sort of the disease of being policy wonks ... I think that if you get too consumed with that you lose sight of the larger issue ... The reorganization that's taken place here is one that is much more geared to those [leadership] functions' ...
"Almost reflexively, he snapped into a quick take-back, that his old team was 'exactly the right team to get a lot of laws passed through Congress,' and that he's 'incredibly proud' that financial reform has 'made the system more stable' and health care reforms 'have started what will be a long path toward a more sensible health care system.' Then he just swept them ... away with a one-liner: 'But I have very much internalized the fact that my job is not legislator in chief.' ...
"Ronald Reagan's ability to project optimism ... was his particular genius ... 'He was very comfortable in playing the role of president. And I think part of that really was his actor's background,' Obama said, betraying, in his tone, a hint of envy. As he edged closer to Reagan, though, Obama seemed to squirm in his chair, trying to get comfortable. Looking back over his life, the president said, Reagan always took pride 'in pushing against artifice' and 'not engaging in a lot of symbolic gestures, but rather, thinking practically ... And I think that the evolution that happened in the campaign was me recognizing that if I was going to be a successful candidate, then the symbols and the gestures mattered as much as what my ideas were.'" |
