RON SUSKIND: "The Cabinet of Incuriosities"

[nostamj]

The Cabinet of Incuriosities
By RON SUSKIND

<snip>

In some ways, Mr. Snow was the first selection of this new cabinet, just now settling into its full ensemble. Mr. Snow's prenuptial agreement, when he replaced the obstreperous Paul O'Neill two years ago, is similar to the ones his newly arrived (or at least newly promoted) second-term colleagues have just signed: all policies come from the White House. Read the script with ardor and good cheer.

As Mr. Bush learned in his first term, this is a difficult agreement for some of America's most accomplished people to sign. They may be publicly hailed for their innovation and decisiveness, but those qualities are rarely demanded in their cabinet jobs. Consequently, cabinet members often feel like imposters. This president's mission is to tame the unwieldy federal bureaucracy, not empower it.

One way he has done this is to weaken cabinet members themselves, often by allowing them to announce policies that he has then publicly repudiated - a tactic he used, for instance, with Secretary of State Colin Powell over administration policy toward North Korea. Not surprisingly, many traditional high achievers end up frustrated. Recruitment of others has proved difficult. The result is the second-term cabinet: an odd collection of quiet tacticians and loyal friends.

This has significant implications in how the government is run - and the Treasury Department offers a glimpse of what other parts of the executive branch are fast becoming. Just as a White House is defined by its president, departments were often reflections of their secretaries. Over the past two years, Treasury - like state under Mr. Powell - has become a neutered giant, looking for direction from an often distracted or otherwise engaged White House. Meanwhile, the policy arms of entire parts of the government have been withering as career staffers leave for jobs where they can at least use their expertise and training.

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[atommom]

1. It's the Peter Principle, taken to the extreme!

... the idea that anyone, properly encouraged and supported, can do a thoroughly adequate job, even better than adequate, in almost any endeavor.

It's an empowering, populist idea - especially for those who, for whatever reason, have felt wrongly excluded or disrespected - that is embodied in the story of Mr. Bush himself: a man with virtually no experience in foreign affairs or national domestic policy who has been a uniquely forceful innovator in both realms.

But should incompetence really be "empowered"? And does f'ing something up beyond all recognition really make one an "innovator"? Stories like this just make me more convinced that Bush is remaking our government in the image of his own psychopathology.

[Demit]

2. Exactly--his pathology. Ron Suskind uses the word "revenge".

"Undistinguished in college, business school and in the private sector, he spent nearly 30 years sitting in seminar rooms and corporate suites while experts and high achievers held forth. Now it appears that he's having his revenge..."

I think that observation is deadly accurate. What a statement to be made about the man who holds the most powerful office on earth!

[indigobusiness]

3. --the image of his own psychopathology--

looks as ugly as it sounds.

So bloody true.