Whitman second to disagree publicly with O'Neill

The previous head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is at odds with former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's highly critical portrait of President Bush as a disconnected leader who discouraged debate in his Cabinet.

“I did not have the same experience that Paul O'Neill had,” said Christie Whitman following a “policymaker's breakfast” speech sponsored by Trinity University that she delivered this morning at the Doubletree Hotel at 37 N.E. Loop 410.  article

Greenspan has already taken exception to O'Neill's characterization of what happened.

“When I talked to the president I found a very engaged president,” Whitman said. “I found someone who was aware of the issues who would ask me questions about it.”

Whitman, a former New Jersey governor, attributed the difference in her perception of Bush's handling of Cabinet meetings and O'Neill's to their distinct professional backgrounds. O'Neill is the former head of aluminum giant Alcoa.

“Paul came from a corporate sector. I came from being governor,” Whitman said as she talked about her administration in New Jersey. “No matter how much I tried when I brought my Cabinet together to have a free and open flowing discussion it never happened.

“I mean we'd get a little bit around certain issues, but there's no Cabinet member who wants to engage in a tough discussion — back and forth — in front of a whole lot of other Cabinet members. It just doesn't happen”

Well, no effing wonder things don't get done effeciently or properly.

I've been reading the Suskind book bit by bit. It's not necessarily dry, but it's kind of boring. What it doesn't do is make me like Paul O'Neill. Still, I find that his descriptions of Bush match quite well with the reading I get from Double-dumb's public behavior and transcripts of his "scripted" press conferences and, horror of horrors, his unscripted meetings with foreign journalists.

It seems that Whitman and O'Neill are saying essentially the same thing about Cabinet meetings, but Whitman seems to think they're appropriate, while O'Neill wants them to be policy discussions.

I tend to agree with O'Neill on this, especially considering that the policy makers are all now idealogues and when they call together commissions or groups to study an issue, they call together all people of like minds, therefore ensuring the decision - which then comes to Cabinet meetings. Of course, when the Cabinet gets cleared of all people like O'Neill, and filled with only like-minded idealogues, discussion at Cabinet meetings is moot anyway.

From the Suskind book The Price of Loyalty:

pp. 147-8

For this President, cabinet meetings and the many midsize to large meetings he attended were carefully scripted. Before most meetings, a cabinet secretary's chief of staff would receive a note from someone on the senior staff in the White House. The note instructed the cabinet secretary when he was supposed to speak, about what, and how long. When O'Neill had received his first such note, he was amazed. The idea of a cabinet meeting or any significant meeting between the President and his seniormost officials being scripted seemed to kill off the whole purpose of bringing people together. He had been in many White Houses. He had never heard of such a thing.

And that is interesting. Because O'Neill has worked with many presidents, and Whitman is saying that his take on the matter is simply because he came from a business background where things are done differently than in government.

The scripting of meetings also explains that little snafu of His Slowliness the Dope's in a press conference where he blurted out that the questioning was scripted.

So why did Whitman resign?

I can understand that she wants to distance herself from O'Neill's position - after all, throughout the Suskind book, O'Neill comments on Whitman's frustrations with the administration, and essentially lays claim to her as the only other Cabinet member who saw things from his point of view. They come off as a kind of duo sabotaged by the administration. Apparently, Ms. Whitman isn't as old or rich as O'Neill.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.