Insiders
Rumsfeld--smart, honest, crotchety, learning on the job. botched the initial attempt at defense reform miserably. has been a much better secretary of war than secretary of defense. his indifference to pc platitudes can be a virtue (helped him fight the war well) but can also be a vice (leads him to place excessive confidence in missile defense). will be interesting to watch.
Wolfowitz--very smart, serious guy who is the leader of the neocon camp in the administration for a reason. Passionate. useful to have on board for backbone stiffening and input, but dangerous if given power.
Bolton--devoted to a passionate belief in the virtues of unilateralism. shouldn't be in the job he's in.
Rice--smart, savvy inside player. hard to get a fix on her politics. keeping her cards very close, and trying to play the inside game.
Cheney--very smart, serious guy. Also a hardline right-winger. But in the pinch can probably be counted on not to do much that's really stupid. Key player in the administration.
Libby--key Cheney staffer. smart neocon.
Bush--something of an unknown, still. Apparently has good instincts, but doesn't know much. seems to be learning (China incident, the war). could grow.
Powell--smart, serious, generally wise but a bit too cautious.
Armitage--Powell's no. 2. smart, serious. neocon tendencies, but Powell's buddy. hard to know what he's saying inside.
Haass--head of State policy planning. provider of intellectual framework for State; important antineocon player. smart, serious, excellent common sense. in an ideal world, would be in Rice's job.
Perle--"prince of darkness" label justified. smart but wacky. doesn't deserve his influence. dangerous.
Outsiders
Gaffney--lightweight. combination of defense industry bagman and ideological hatchetman. ignore.
Kristol--smart, passionate, not really a foreign or defense policy expert.
Kagan--smarter, more honest, more serious part of Kristol-Kagan team. Always worth a listen or a read, but generally too hardline and by-the-book neocon for my taste.
Cohen--one of the country's top military experts. in an ideal world, would be in Wolfowitz's job, or Rumsfeld's. Someone should post his WSJ Iraq piece from today.
anybody else?
tb@whatdoyouthinkofthebook?.com |
