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Summary: Insightful
Review: There is nothing here that was unknown. ... What was new is to what degree this was happening and to the degree decisions were being made by a president who did not understand the issues even the most basic terms.All in all a great read.
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Summary: This book will scare you!!!
Review: I'm so glad to see this book is selling so well and that people like it. It is very very interesting and O'Neil comes across as an interesting able person. I want to know what he is doing now. He comes across as a person I wd want in charge of my favorite project. Cheney comes across as scarey. And Bush, well, how do you describe a leader who likes his memos to be 3 pages long?????
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Summary: Conservative Philosophy vs. Conservative Ideology
Review: As a financial analyst and independent conservative, I found this to be an important and disturbing book that should be read, especially by thoughtful conservatives. While critical of the decision making process in the Bush administration, this is not an ideological diatribe of the Michael Moore, Al Franken variety. O'Neill is a serious individual with serious concerns about the lack of rigor in the current policy-making process. Nor is this about Republicans or Democrats because in Washington's current poisonous partisan atmosphere, a Democratic administration could well act the same way. O'Neill gained prominence for his effective economic analysis and policy implementation under Presidents Nixon and Ford. His subsequent leadership and unique accomplishments while CEO of Alcoa Corporation are the subject of required reading at the nation's top business schools. He is a true compassionate conservative for whom analysis and evidence trumps both politics and ideological purity. His practical can-do approach to problem solving has often led to win-win solutions that work for those on all sides of an issue. When Dick Cheney, O'Neill's old friend from Nixon-Ford days, invited him back to Washington to become George W's Treasury Secretary, O'Neill thought that he would re-enter a world where sound public policy was developed after in-depth analysis and debate of the pros and cons of competing arguments. In O'Neill's world, "Yes-people" need not apply. If sound analysis does not provide a path to a desired outcome, another path or modified outcome are needed in the interests of public policy. To his surprise, O'Neill found himself thrust into an administration where politics and ideology prevailed over analysis on virtually every key decision. Experts were ignored if their views conflicted with pre-conceived political or ideological notions. Once policy was made, O'Neill was a master at effective implementation but his inability to be anything but true to his beliefs in the virutes of rigorous analysis finally got him fired. O'Neill speaks to the difference between having a strong but open-minded conservative philosophy like his and having a closed-minded conservative ideology, where opposing analysis, rather than being welcomed is rejected and hopefully never presented. In my own financial analysis arena, the failure to adhere to decision-making processes based on rigorous analysis, led to the cooked books at Enron, Worldcom, etc. Whether the goal is maximizing wealth or achieving a public policy objective, the failure to maintain a rigorous process leads to unsound decision making. In my business, only money is involved. In Washington, far more is at stake and I worry about a White House where smart, thoughtful straight shooters like Paul O'Neill are villified rather than treasured.
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Summary: On the edge of the outside, looking in...
Review: The choice Suskind made to write this book in the style of narrative non-fiction was a judicious one because it gives the general reader a greater feel and connection to the facts. Paul O'Neill, former U.S. Treasury Secretary to the Bush II administration, comes across in the text as someone who lives his philosophy, professionally and personally, and that is to work and live honestly, always seeking the truth, where performance and results win out over 'appearance' or partisan politicking. When he accepted the job, he believed he could at least make a few in-roads to structuring economic policy that would benefit the nation as a whole. Contrary to his wife's advice, he entered, unknowingly, into an administration that already had an agenda, and as he soon discovered, G.W.B, was unlike any president he had worked for before. Sound, pragmatic economic policy that would benefit the country over the long term was thwarted; in fact, there was no effort to create policy at all'this government seemed to only fly by the seat of its pants, manuvaring agendas in the direction of an unknown goal. O'Neill continued to ask himself, who is running the show, and to what end? As one reads further into the text, it becomes all too apparent who was and is running the country ' and it certainly isn't the president. Bush is depicted as an ignoramus surrounded by neoconservative ideologues informing and shaping his every thought and opinion. O'Neill over the first year of his tenure, met with the president once a week to discuss economic policy. The Treasury Secretary was astonished to find the president did not really have an opinion or would ask any questions. Most meetings were the same, consisting of Bush simply sitting quietly, nodding and grunting, while the inner circle, a group of extraordinarily intelligent men and women, talked around him. As O'Neill comments, a now infamous quote in the book, 'The only way I can describe it is that, well, the president is like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people. There is no discernable connection.' (P.149) O'Neill is an experienced and successful operator, having made it his business to gage individuals as to their intentions, philosophies and personality. After a year of one-on-one weekly meetings with the president, O'Neill perceived either an unwillingness to engage intelligently on important economic issues, or was, at bottom, incapable of engagement, due to a fundamental inability to understand the issues and concepts presented. As has been tradition for presidential (elects) in their first 100 days in office, is to make good, or at least be seen as making good, key campaign promises to the American people. It is curious and telling that, only ten days in office, at an NSC meeting, the first cab off the rank, so to speak, was about Iraq; new sanctions, better intelligence, military options, including the deployment of ground forces, and 'regime change'. Does this not set off a few alarm bells? This administration had a pre-set agenda about Iraq even before entering office. O'Neill as a man on the outside, on the edge of the inner sanctum, never had a chance. This book reveals a government that conceals intentions about their actions. There has always been another agenda, a secret agenda, and a man like Paul O'Neill, transparent, honest and concerned, was fired because this philosophy is anathema to this administration. This book is recommended to all concerned people.
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Summary: usually we wait many years for this kind of glimpse
Review: Usually we wait many years for this kind of glimpse into the nature of a president and his administration. The book provides substantial context for the events that are playing out today, written by a journalist of exceptional skill and integrity. Skip the fiction thrillers; there's enough intrigue, secrecy, and high-stakes in this narrative to eclipse anything in print.
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Summary: This Book is Worthless.
Review: After reading this book, I come away with the impression that Paul O'Neill is either simply trying to get back at President Bush for rightly firing him, or he is so naive that he should never have been Secretary of the Treasury at all. I have no sympathy for him. Either way, the book provides no support for any of the many serious (yet plainly unfounded) allegations against President Bush -- it's all the word of Paul O'Neill who, obviously, has an ax to grind. This from a guy who spent the majority of his time as Secretary of the Treasury flying around the Third world with Irish singer BONO? Please. O'Neill's a joke. Alcoa's gain was the country's loss. This book isn't worth the time.
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Summary: Paul O Neil's Story
Review: A revealing look into the Bush White House. Sometimes it is shocking at how politics seems to be driving decision making in the Bush White House. Ron Suskind has written a biography of O Neals time in the White House. He draws heavily on ONeals material and opinion. I felt this was the both weak point and strong point of the book. Weak point because this was basically one mans version of the white house policy making. For example there is a lot of information on the environmental policy but no opinion of anyone in the EPA or Ms. Whitman. Strong point because this is the view of one of the most influential people in the White house. However I feel this book does offer an important look into the current white house policy making that one should be aware of especially with the elections due soon
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Summary: A mystery on several different levels
Review: Reading the Price of Loyalty is an interesting, and yet in some ways, unfulfilling experience. At one level, it provides insight into how the Bush White House works (or doesn't). O'Neill detailed his interactions with the President, other senior members of the Administration, and key influencers of US policy like Alan Greenspan. But it becomes clear that O'Neill really didn't know how the White House really arrived at decisions. The book chronicles a series of disappointments from his perspective -- whether on the tax cut question, global warming, or a demonstration water project in Africa. It also provides insight into President Bush's management style, and yet O'Neill calls him opaque, unresponsive, and difficult to engage. So you read the book, and you appreciate what it does provide, but you also wish that it provided a more acute analysis of what was really going on, both within the White House and inside the President's head. As a result, you can tell that O'Neill was truly an outsider in this Administration, despite his vaunted quasi-weekly meetings with the President, and it leaves you wondering whether he was either politically disingenuous or naive. Many people will find his discussion on decision-making very interesting, and the portrait he paints of Alan Greenspan is also quite different from the public master of enigma and obfuscation. From my perspective, it seems like O'Neill's strengths were his ability to manage, implement, and execute. He thinks his strengths are candor and intellectual honesty, and his weaknesses include political tone deafness and a certain intellectual arrogance that comes with having had a successful career. I wish he hadn't condescended so much to the President and to Lindsay; it probably would have strengthened his critique if it didn't look like he had such blind spots in his dealings with both men. Suskind does a good job taking complex issues and presenting them without too much over-simplification, and if you know anything about Washington, you will have a great time reading between the lines as well. In the end, this is a book that will leave you wondering about President Bush's capabilities, the decision-making process at the White House, and most of all, about the strengths and weaknesses of Paul O'Neill.
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Summary: Excellent "Good read to substance" Ratio
Review: The Amazon editorial review does a very good job explaining the book, although I would like to add that the book has an excellent "Good read to substance" ratio. That is to say, the reader comes out at the end feeling very satified with having learned a whole lot more about something which is complex and very important, yet with minimal effort. This is due to Suskind's lean and concise writing which has obviously benifitted from the very best editing and organizational assistance; and of course information that comes from, what convincingly appears to be, the amazingly clear mind of Paul O'Neal. This is one of those few "proud to be on the shelf" books one really should own for posterity, yet once again has almost not a single bit of grind: and is on economic policy makers no less. This is because when reading the book, one feels almost physically present in and around Washington, in the loftiest of working environments. Having grown up in Washington, with a father who worked in a bank diagonally across the street from the Treasury, I found the book fascinating. Overall, it is an amazing "clarification", if it is true. I believe it must largely be. That is for you to decide, however.
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Summary: The Truth Will Set You Free
Review: Pro- and anti-Bush screeds will be a dime a dozen this year. Most will do a good job reinforcing what their readers already believe, but will be of very little use to that small but vital sliver of the thinking population that has not already made up its mind about George W. Bush. This is a book for that sliver. Ron Suskind's quasi-memoir of Paul O'Neill's tenure as treasury secretary is the most revealing insider account yet of the Bush White House. Given that crowd's penchant for loyalty, secrecy, and score-keeping, for O'Neill to cooperate with Suskind was either an act of courage or a betrayal. Maybe both. In any event, this book may be the only critical look we get at this president from an insider for a while. That alone makes it invaluable. Publication of Suskind's book made headlines with O'Neill's claims that the Bush administration began making plans for "regime change" in Iraq immediately upon taking office, long before 9/11, and by likening Bush's performance in cabinet meetings to a "blind man in a room full of deaf people." Neither claim will come as a surprise to close observers of this administration, even those without access to the Oval Office. The real thesis of The Price of Loyalty is more subtle. Suskind uses O'Neill's experience to make the case that "Bush 43" represents a radical departure from the pragmatic, reality-based policymaking of previous Republican presidents like Nixon, Ford and Bush 41. (He largely skips over Reagan--another aimiable, detached executive). O'Neill is focused on finding the best policy based on evidence, only to find that the process has been hijacked by political operatives and narrow ideologues. The administration included able and articulate moderates (O'Neill, Powell, Whitman), but they are unable to gain traction in the scripted meetings and backstage maneuverings of the Bush White House. The portraits of the President and Vice-President that emerge from O'Neill's account are damning. Bush lacks the intellectual curiousity and focus to grapple with complex problems and steer internal debate. He is easily manipulated by catch phrases and reductive slogans. While some have been charmed by Bush's jocularity, O'Neill clearly found it grating, inappropriate and perhaps indicative of a man in well over his head. The portrait of Cheney is more sinister. We see O'Neill repeatedly pleading to the vice-president, an old friend, that the policymaking process in the White House was broken, that Bush was not hearing competing points of view through "honest brokers". Always inscrutable, Cheney seemed to agree but did nothing. O'Neill came very slowly to the conclusion that Cheney was the principal beneficiary of the politicization of policy and the weakness of internal debate, allowing him to serve as the ubiquitous power behind the throne. In the most chilling scene, Cheney insists on another ruinious tax cut, arguing that "Reagan proved deficits don't matter" and ending the discussion with "We won the midterms--it's our due." Suskind's book may do quite a bit to repair Paul O'Neill's reputation. Press accounts of his tenure left the impression of a bumbling loose cannon, whose outspokenness undermined administration policy and roiled financial markets. Suskind doesn't dodge these issues, but recasts them as the plain-spoken courage of a smart, pragmatic and open-minded public servant. Often the reader is so compelled by O'Neill's range of thought and compassionate instincts as to wonder, "Why couldn't he have been president, instead of Bush?" Still, this portrait of O'Neill is only partially persuasive. The quirkiness of the man was real. A certain intellectual arrogance and personal irrascibility caused him to pick fights he didn't need. As a bureaucratic player, he was a failure, unable to steer tax policy in a responsible direction despite a close alliance with Fed Chairman Greenspan and plenty of sympathetic members of Congress. Ultimately, O'Neill's service as Treasury Secretary will be remembered for its transformation of enormous Federal surpluses into deficits as far as the eye can see. And for what? Massive tax cuts for the people who need them the least. O'Neill may have quibbled over the size and timing of the tax cuts, and worried about the burgeoning deficits, but he still bears a large share of responsibility for the fiscal disaster. If nothing else, he could have resigned. Still, O'Neill comes across as a decent gentleman, whose approach to public service seems like a rare and vanishing quality in our politics today. You have to admire a guy who can speak the truth to both Bush and Bono--in the same week no less. Unfortunately, O'Neill signed up to serve the wrong cause. His reputation will pay a stiffer price for that than for any breach of loyalty to the Bush clan that appears in this book.
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