Spin Cycle
There's an all-points bulletin in effect right now for Treasury Secretary John Snow. Anyone seen him?
Last December, I wrote that John Mack would make an excellent Treasury head, but that his return to Morgan Stanley probably precluded that possibility. I still feel that way, although his name is out there as a possibility. We'll see.
What I find interesting in the debate over a possible Snow replacement is the concurrent assumption that the problem has been the messenger and not the policy. In other words, the only thing lacking has been the "spin"---sort of what the pollyannas have been saying about Iraq. With a more credible salesman at Treasury, the thinking goes, Americans would be convinced that their own financial situations aren't all that bad and the president's poll numbers would improve.
Anyone else remember when Treasury actually did something other than ham-handed marketing?
Last December, I wrote that John Mack would make an excellent Treasury head, but that his return to Morgan Stanley probably precluded that possibility. I still feel that way, although his name is out there as a possibility. We'll see.
What I find interesting in the debate over a possible Snow replacement is the concurrent assumption that the problem has been the messenger and not the policy. In other words, the only thing lacking has been the "spin"---sort of what the pollyannas have been saying about Iraq. With a more credible salesman at Treasury, the thinking goes, Americans would be convinced that their own financial situations aren't all that bad and the president's poll numbers would improve.
Anyone else remember when Treasury actually did something other than ham-handed marketing?
posted by The Cunning Realist at Thursday, March 30, 2006
5 Comments:
I do. Back in those dark, dark days when federal budgets were balanced, when tax cuts had to be offset by spending cuts, when there was a policy process and not just a partisan process, when the president actually listened to people who knew what they were talking about, and when Treasury had the respect it was due. In short, when Bill Clinton was president and GWB was the second or third most powerful person in Texas government. Those were the days.
Good luck with finding Snow.
I'm still trying to figure out if we actually have a Housing and Urban Development Secretary. You'd think he might have something to do since we lost a major American city last fall and its residents were scattered to the wind in search of housing. Must be stuck in an undisclosed location.
Right on, Doug.
Snow is a TV spokes-model.
Can the Republican party actually say it is the fiscally conservative party, the fiscally responsible party today without going straight to hell?
War and piece has an entry, that it isn't going to be Snow, but finally Rumsfeld.
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