Note: The Dysfunctional White House: Archive Entry From Brad DeLong's Webjournal

February 17, 2004

Note: The Dysfunctional White House

A response worth preserving:

As to your point about Glenn Hubbard.... The interesting point is how the absence of a policy process -- and the primacy of political mobilization and presentation -- allows spin (in this case misleading a George W. Bush who clearly doesn't know this point) to become policy. What's more -- and I've heard this from plenty of insiders who've sat in these rooms -- no one is encouraged, empowered or rewarded for stopping the proceedings, even on a point as central to this day's discussion as the effects of the deficit, and say "clean miss". People won't correct George W. Bush when he's wrong, or even, in his presence, correct certain senior advisers about pronoucements that support an ideological prescription.

Another response worth preserving:

Brad, you wrote that in the book Chief of Staff Cheney and Rumsfeld speak eloquently about the importance of an honest staff process to generate good policies and to stop idiocy. You've misread it. That's what Rumsfeld says. Cheney starts by saying, "I'm going to agree with Rumsfeld." But what Cheney actually says is, "When I was chief of staff, I had to deal with Nelson Rockefeller. And, by God, I dealt with Nelson Rockefeller. When I was through with him there was nothing left but a smudge on the White House carpet."

Posted by DeLong at February 17, 2004 05:36 PM | TrackBack | | Other weblogs commenting on this post

Comments

My oh my, there is going to be an avalanche of tell-all books when this bunch gets back to Crawford.

Posted by: flory on February 17, 2004 06:34 PM

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"you wrote that in the book Chiefs of Staff..." Can some one give me more info about what book is being referred to? An Amazon search only gave me books on Joint Chiefs of Staff. Thanks.

Posted by: jasmindad on February 17, 2004 07:07 PM

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What is alarming to people outside the United States is how a democracy that was not particularly stressed by defeat or other trauma could have elected someone like Bush, who everyone thought was a tool of the moneyed interest, but seems to have chosen own cabinet (read Carl Rove). The alarming thing is that it might happen again, maybe not in this next election, but sometime in the future. I don't think the American punditry have any conception how much damage the consequences of the 2000 election has done to American credibility abroad. To be sure, one has to give due credit to the Supreme Court, which left the electorate off the hook. It's our only excuse.

Posted by: Knut Wicksell on February 17, 2004 07:27 PM

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/18/politics/18JOBS.html?hp

Snow distances himself from Jobs report, says the Grey Lady.

I'm in the beltway, there isn't enough room in the solar system, let alone the government, to distance oneself from that jobs report.

Posted by: Stirling Newberry on February 17, 2004 08:04 PM

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Geez, Rocky was one of the last decent Repug's anyone could care to mention. What happened to these guys? When did they all turn into Brown Shirts? Even Reagan's minions were not this consistently bad, and yes, evil.

Posted by: VJ on February 17, 2004 08:34 PM

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We joined the democratic Party.

Posted by: Stirling Newberry on February 17, 2004 10:41 PM

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Why did you decide to post the comments without attribution? I think the commenters deserve credit, and it would be an incentive to more high-quality comments.

Posted by: Noumenon on February 17, 2004 10:52 PM

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It appears that this is a White House where any views not conforming to the central dogmas will not even be entertained, so are not even raised. One wonders why Bush even maintains a Council of Economic Advisers, except as window-dressing for decisions Cheney has made.

Posted by: BobNJ on February 18, 2004 06:15 AM

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Noumenon writes:

Yeah, attaching your name to critical quotes about your bosses is a _great_ way to get more high-quality comments.

Posted by: Dave on February 18, 2004 06:33 AM

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First the bait, then the switch.

Bush Officials Offer Cautions on White House Jobs Forecast
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/18/politics/18JOBS.html

Not too bad for the press.

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