Like most people, I heard about Ron Suskind's book from the nightly news. Based on thousands of documents and hours of interviews with former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, "The Price of Loyalty" is the first work documenting internal workings at the Bush White House. When published in early 2004, the book raised hackles with quotes from Secretary O'Neill saying the President was "disengaged", and "like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people". Rather than challenge the contents of the book, the Administration responded by claiming Suskind had illegally used "Top Secret" documents. In the end, 140 of the 19,000 documents the Treasury Department sent O'Neill after he left office should have been marked classified and not distributed. Everyone was cleared of wrongdoing and I can assure you nothing in The Price of Loyalty threatens national security. I decided to purchase the book after watching Ron Suskind do a bookstore reading on CSPAN. He seemed to present a balanced and fact-based narrative, rather than a political hit job.
The opening of the book describes O'Neill's earlier work in government and efforts as CEO of Alcoa. This portion of the book struck me as a bit of ass-kissing. You could have called it "Paul O'Neill: What a Guy!". Perhaps this was part of the deal with O'Neill for getting so much information. Fortunately this tone disappears when the book turns to O'Neill's time in office. Two themes occur throughout the book. First, all policy decisions where based on political or ideological motives, not research and open debate. Second, O'Neill could never tell what the President was thinking. The Secretary would have private sit down talks with the man, but Bush never asked him any questions. I don't agree with O'Neill on several issues, but the book certainly casts him as someone who puts thought behind his positions. One quote I particularly liked concerns tax incentives for R&D research: "You find somebody who says, 'I do more R&D because I get a tax credit for it,' you'll find a fool." Its a pretty valid point since all companies these days depend on innovation, and if you aren't working on new ideas, you are dying.
O'Neill really only got along with two peers in the administration, Fed Chairman Allan Greenspan, and EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman. It turns out that O'Neill and Allan Greenspan are long-time friends, with a history of meeting to discuss the economy. They had agreed in late 2000 that any tax cut proposal should have "triggers" that would reduce or drop the cuts if the deficit went out of control. Despite O'Neill's efforts, triggers did not make it into the final Bush tax package, and the deficit has ballooned. "The Price of Loyalty" discusses Whitman's efforts with Kyoto right before Bush yanked the carpet out from under her feet. O'Neill seemed to have a lot of issues with economic advisor Larry Lindsey, who is portrayed as being purely ideological. Ironically both where fired at the same time.
A while back someone did a story talking about how PowerPoint was changing society, breaking everything down into simplistic bullet points rather than discussing nuanced details. "The Price of Loyalty" gave me the impression George W Bush is the PowerPoint President. All decisions are based on one-line catch phrases.
The Price of Loyalty is worth your time. Reading the book gives you an insightful look into how the Bush White House really operates.