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Summary: Appalled at Bush¿s environmental record
Review: I just finished this book yesterday, the day before Earth Day. Excellent read from a very smart person in Paul O'Neil.What strikes me today is I see President Bush on TV proclaiming he has done more for the environment than any recent President. NOT! Paul O'Neil clearly shows how the Bush administration immediately jumped in bed with big business to roll back environmental standards for clean air and global warming among other things. His administration would have seminars solely made up of big business CEOs. They didn't even pretend to invite environmentalists. Dick Cheney's so called "energy commission" was populated by big oil and coal companies, such as Enron. It is laughable to hear GW Bush proclaiming himself to be friendly toward the environment. He is only friendly to the corporate bottom line, which incidentally have been very generous in campaign contributions. On a different note, the picture of Alan Greenspan that emerges in this book is fascinating. The cryptic public speeches from Greenspan don't begin to show the intelligence and foresight of this man. One can only come away from this book with the clear impression that not only is President Bush mentally challenged, he is the most dangerous kind in that he has incredible power at his fingertips.
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Summary: A Rare Look Inside the Executive Branch
Review: Up front, I am a Democrat and therefore come to the book with a little personal bias. However, I also hold an MBA and believe in fiscal responsibility, smaller government, and a few other traditionally Republican issues. The book didn't tell me much more than I had already expected. Suskind tells the tale of Paul O'Neill, former ALCOA CEO and Nixon/Ford-era civil servant recruited into the Bush administration by Dick Cheney. O'Neill comes across as an honest, yet naive, player in today's polarized political landscape. He describes a Bush administrative staffed mostly by hardened, ideological players. Few honest brokers, of which O'Neill considers himself one (or at least heavily leaning towards that mode of operation). And hints of a few other cabinet-level officials who are unhappy with 43 and Cheney (the hint came across to me as Powell, but Suskind doesn't name names). The book makes some comments about Bush that have gotten some press, but more intriguing is what is hinted but not said about the Vice President's strong hold on executive branch operation. I wish Suskind had delved into this topic a little more. Overall, I came away from the book with a better opinion of some Bush cabinet members (Rice, Powell, Rumsfield, Whitman) but an overall worse opinion of the Bush administration (mostly due to the lack of honest brokers, which I consider an imperative for good leadership decisions regardless of the leader's ideological bias). I do not pretend that the book is completely objective, but given the tight secrecy around the Bush administration, any look inside is worth reading.
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Summary: Would Be Hilarious, If Not for Fact Bush is U.S. President
Review: This book is somewhat self-serving, and goes out of its way to portray Paul O'Neill in a very favorable and pragmatic light. But it's a very revealing look at Bush White House. O'Neill and Suskind describe Bush as an unengaged President, lacking the experience and intellectual capacity needed to make sound, informed decisions. O'Neill alleges what most America should have known five years ago: George W. Bush has no clue. He nods his way through his presidency, asking few questions and allowing Dick Cheney to make most of the decisions regarding policy. If 10% of what O'Neill says is true, we are in very big trouble. But aside from the horrifying fact that a man who doesn't read and has no intellectual curiosity controls our economy and our military, O'Neill's descriptions of meeting with Bush are a hoot. O'Neill continually tries to educate the President on important issues, but he cannot get through, and gets increasingly frustrated. Can't blame him. I'd never want Bush as my boss.
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Summary: Fascinating
Review: Jason Blair formerly of the New York Times was fired for being a liar; his book "Burning down my masters house".
Paul O'Neil was fired for telling the truth his book: "The price of Loyalty".
I read this book and wasn't sure of the title until the theme grew louder and louder. O'Neil would not accept the scripted questions the Bush chief of Staff tried to get him to ask the President during cabinet meetings. He rejected staged economic summits where the participants had been selected to limit disagreement with the President's proposals. He deplored the letters from Karl Rove demmanding that he stop giving his own opinion. And even his termination was to be scripted; The VicePresident calling to inform him that he was fired, and suggested that O'Neil lie and say it was his wish. Being loyal is about meeting the responsibility of asking those you support the tough questions, to prepare them for the opposition.
It was surprising to read that at least one Republican in the world cares about clean water to the third world, global warming destroying our children's environments, fiscal responsibility, equality in education, and other "liberal" agendas.They fired the only principled man in the White House.
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Summary: Disturbing...
Review: Don't read this book if you are an ideologue, If you care to base your loyalty on facts rather than "ideas" then spend the $20 for this book. If you were to assemble the five most respected and knowledgeable people in the realm of anti-terrorism Richard Clarke would be among those five. If you assembled a similar list of the most respected journalists, Bob Woodward would be among those. If you assembled yet another list of experts on fiscal responsibility Paul O'Neill would be also on that list.
Three different accounts of individuals who are less than impressed with the competency of this current President and his advisors.
Paul O'Neill is not your average Republican. He's perfectly willing to be proven wrong, he welcomes it. He has an open mind.
180 degrees from Dick Cheney. In reading this book via O'Neill's collaboration, it has become clear that Cheney is the actual President. Bush is too consumed with not looking stupid and uniformed to be in control of the entire White House. Cheney who opposed sanctions against Iran (a country **with** Weapons of Mass destruction & a history of openly funding terrorism via Hez Bollah) because those sanctions would interfere with his own personal oil interests, rejects all of O'Neill's attempts to have fair and balanced policy debate. Dick Cheney is the first to enter the oval office and the last to leave. And was the one who actually called O'Neill to fire him asking him to lie to the press and say he no longer wanted to continue in public office, despite his passion to save social security and keep us from the 500 Billion dollar deficits we now once again face. This book bolsters the idea that given his power and influence the VP is the most dangerous man in America: dangerous to this nation's Fiscal well being, dangerous to this nation's environmental well being and the most dangerous man to the national security of this nation. While we are spending $1 Billion dollars per week "freeing" Iraq's oil fields for Cheney's buddies, the Subways of NYC are not one bit safer.
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Summary: Read it
Review: O'Neill's book puts the finger on the Administration: ideologues not focused on free debate and willing to sacrifice the security of this country in order to promote their personal goals and vengences. Nobody who has read this book could possibly vote for this Administration in 2004.
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Summary: Good information, but one-sided.
Review: This book paints a disturbing picture of the Bush White House. That is, an administration that pursues an agenda based on what it wishes were true rather than one that assesses real problems and tries to find real solutions. The downside of this methodology is obvious and specific problems that arise from it are covered in the book. The main problem with the book is that it is clearly written from one man's point of view. The man, Paul O'Neill, did have significant access to the George W. and the rest of the Bush Administration. That being the case, it seems that his point of view is of value and should be considered. However, it is important to note that the book paints it's main subject (O'Neill) in a very positive light which should signal to the discerning reader to remain skeptical about some of the facts contained within. It often seems tha the book's aim is not to show an accurate picture opf the whitehouse, but to vindicate the performance of O'Neill. Overall, I am glad to have heard O'Neill's side of the story, but I would caution against thinking it is the whole story.
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Summary: The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and t
Review: This narrative is like no other book that has been written about the Bush presidency - or any that is likely to be written soon. At its core are the assessments of former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, for two years the administration's top economic official, a principal of the National Security Council, and a tutor to the new President. He is the only member of Bush's innermost circle to leave and then to agree to speak frankly about what has really been happening inside the White House." "O'Neill's account is supported by Suskind's interviews with many participants in the administration, by transcripts of meetings, and by documents that cover most areas of domestic and foreign policy. The result is a disclosure of breadth and depth unparalleled for an ongoing presidency. As readers are taken to the very epicenter of government, this volume offers a view of the characters and conduct of Bush and his closest advisers as they manage crucial domestic policies and global strategies at a time of life-and-death crises
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Summary: Great read, very insightful
Review: I was looking for a non-partisan book on the Bush Whitehouse, and started reading this book with some skepticism. Being an avid reader of the Economist, I had been left with a rather low impression of Paul O'Neill as the Treasury Secretary. However, after reading this book my opinion has completely changed. This book provides shockingly candid insight of what was and was not discussed prior to major fiscal decisions being made. Being a right-leaning independent voter (voting Republican over 80% of the time), I've been astonished at how this President has increased non-military discretionary spending more than any administration in recent history (Democrat or Republican). This book does a fantastic job at providing a behind the scenes look at why, and more shockingly how decisions are made in this administration.
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Summary: After 264+ reviews, anything else left to say?
Review: I finished reading Mr. Suskind's book after Dr. Rice testified before the September 11th Commission, and reading Richard Clarke's book, "Against All Enemies." Both Mr. Clarke and Mr. O'Neill (through Mr. Suskind) paint a similar portrait of the President: an unengaged ideologue with a set agenda, who defers much of the running of the government to a closed circle. If that very idea upsets you, and makes you want to holler "Treason" or "Go back to makin' be'er cans," or "You libbers make me sick," then do not read this book. Paul O'Neill is not a liberal. He is a long-time Republican advisor, counselor, trouble shooter, and cabinet member. He is also close friends with Allen Greenspan--and someone who knew in his heart he was doomed in George W. Bush's Washington. When the new president arrived on the scene, all levels of government were falling all over themselves about tax cuts. The President's initial proposal rapidly became the "floor," according to the House Republicans. Amidst numerous justifications and expiations on tax cuts, there was Mr. O'Neill testifying that in ten years at Alcoa, he never based a decision on reseach & development because of the tax consequences--and anyone who did was a "fool." See Mr. O'Neill become a lone voice, crying in the wildness, trying to use the budget surplus to address structural problems in medicare & social security--only to be told that President Reagan "proved" that large deficeits "don't matter." See Mr. O'Neill scratching his head on the fact that the three presidents who ran up the largest deficeits are the "conservatives" Mr. Reagan, Mr. George H.W. Bush, and Mr. George W. Bush--while the "liberal" Mr. Bill Clinton ran a surplus. Then there is Mr. O'Neill in a cabinet meeting, being told that the new administration was not going to address Israeli-Palestinian relations, because that situation was hopeless--they'd have to work it out themselves. Meanwhile, the Administration needed to step up focus on the *real* threat to stability in the region: Iraq. Iraq? Iraq hadn't threatened anyone's stability since the Gulf War--but if there was anything upsetting the apple cart in the arab world, it was the Mr. Sharon and the on-going problems with the Palestine Authority. And so on. And so on. What was the "price" of loyalty for Mr. O'Neill? That depends on who--or what--Mr. O'Neill was going to be loyal to. Fortunately for the nation, Mr. O'Neill chose to be loyal to his principles and to the truth--which meant there was no room for Mr. O'Neill as Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Suskind, a Wall Street Journal reporter, has put together an interesting, well-documented book illustrating just what was involved in Mr. O'Neill's "education"--much of which is far from pretty. Anyone with at least half an open mind should read this book. One final note--Shortly after this book was published, the White House immediately launched investigation(s), all seeking to prove that Mr. O'Neill violated National Secrecy, or Government Secrecy, or showed & told documents he should not have--all within weeks of "someone" leaking to Mr. Robert Novak that Ms. Valerie Plame was a secret CIA agent. Ms. Palme happened to be married to Mr. Joseph C. Wilson, who just happened to be the diplomat who pointed out that Mr. Bush's assertion in his State of the Union address regarding Iraq purchasing uranium yellowcake from Niger was (to put it mildly) "not true." Since those events came to rise, the White House has quietly announced that Mr. O'Neill violated no rule, statute, nor security clearance in preparing this book with Mr. Suskind. None. As for the Justice Department's investigation of the leak that destroyed Ms. Palme's career--We're still waiting on that one. It looks like Mr. O'Neil is not the only one receiving an education.....
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