World Famous Comics: The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill
The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill
By: Ron Suskind Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Average Rating: Binding: Audio CD Format: Abridged, Audiobook Label: Simon & Schuster Audio Number of Items: 5 Publication Date: January 13, 2004 Release Date: January 13, 2004
A Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter's explosive account of the inner workings of the George W. Bush administration, the most secretive White House of modern times.
This vivid, unfolding narrative includes the candid 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, by transcripts of meetings and by voluminous documents that cover domestic and foreign policy. As listeners are taken to the very epicenter of government, The Price of Loyalty offers a definitive view of Bush and his closest advisers as they manage crucial domestic policies and global strategies at a time of life-and-death crises.
Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, and Christine Todd Whitman are seen in an intimate, "unmanaged" way -- as is Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, O'Neill's close friend and ally. The central conflicts of this administration's governance are starkly visible through the lens of recent events and the revelation of unseen intentions that underlie actions.
Suskind's unique access provides an astonishing account of a President so carefully managed in his public posture that he is unknown to most Americans. Now, he will be known.
Amazon.com Review: The George W. Bush White House, as described by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, is a world out of kilter. Policy decisions are determined not by careful weighing of an issue's complexities; rather, they're dictated by a cabal of ideologues and political advisors operating outside the view of top cabinet officials. The President is not a fully engaged administrator but an enigma who is, at best, guarded and poker-faced but at worst, uncurious, unintelligent, and a puppet of larger forces. O'Neill provided extensive documentation to journalist and author Suskind, including schedules with 7,630 entries and a set of 19,000 documents that featured memoranda to the President, thank-you notes, meeting minutes, and voluminous reports. The result, The Price of Loyalty, is a gripping look inside the meeting rooms, the in-boxes, and the minds of a famously guarded administration. Much of the book, as one might expect from the story of a Treasury Secretary, revolves around economics, but even those not normally enthused by tax code intricacies will be fascinated by the rapid-fire intellects of O'Neill and Fed chairman Alan Greenspan as they gather for regular power breakfasts. A good deal of the book is about the things that O'Neill never figures out. He knows there's something creepy going on with the administration's power structure, but he's never inside enough to know quite what it is. But while those sections are intriguing, other passages are simply revelatory: O'Neill asserts that Saddam Hussein was targeted for removal not in the 9/11 aftermath but soon after Bush took office. Paul O'Neill makes for an interesting protagonist. A vaunted economist from the days of Nixon and Ford, he returns to a Washington that's immeasurably more cutthroat. And while he appears almost naïvely academic initially, he emerges as someone determined to speak his mind even when it becomes apparent that such an approach spells his political doom. --John Moe
a decent companion to Bob Rubin's book this was a quick read, and though not as education as Bob Rubin's "The Price Of Loyalty" it did make a good case against supply side economics. i'm a it disappointed that Paul O'Neil didn't play a visible role in the film "W", but he accentuates the commonsense notion that big spending cannot be a companion of diminishing income.
The Price of Loyalty The Price of Layalty by Ron Suskind, for me was a little long on accounting arguments and to short on relationship details. the difficulty of working with George W. Bush, an out of touch person with no sence of the reality or commpassion for the common man and what he is going through, is in their some where, I think. You just have to look really hard for it. Also, it is apparent that Ideology was far more important to the president than listening to the smartest people in our nation about what would be best for the good of people. But then again you had to wade through the mundane to get that. On the other hand I give it a little higher marks because it at least revealed what a stupid Idiot We have had as president of eight years.
The First Blow to the Bush Administration After years of rough news for the George W. Bush administration it may seem hard to think back to what was the first shot across its bow. That shot came from it first treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill. Yes, Ron Suskind's article about John Diullio came first, but Diullio caved to White House pressure to renege what he had said (coining the phrase Mayberry Machiavelli's to describe the operation of the White House Political shop).
O'Neill's served as the first lasting shot because of the inability of the White House to force him to renege, but also because of his stature O'Neill had a seat at the table of some of the bigger discussions of the first two years of the Bush White House (though not at the political table). What he saw shocked the man who had spent decades working for previous republican presidents. O'Neill is a man of reason, principle, and cautious analysis. The carelessness with which Bush, Cheney, and the political people acted on what should have been serious issues amazed and shocked O'Neill.
As such, O'Neill began to speak out off script. He was considered loose cannon by the political team, and was eventually held at arms length. Finally, after the mid-term elections of November 2002, Cheney fired O'Neill.
The audio recording was very well done by actor Edward Hermann. Overall the book was eye opening. I highly recommend this book.
The Truth comes out. A very well researched and well informed factual take on the misdirection of the current administration. Well written and will be enjoyed and informative to both sides.
more revealing than perhaps it realises One of the bizarre outcomes of a Republican allowing a liberal ideologue like Suskind to write his kiss and tell is that it makes Paul O'Neill - the Big O, as Bush called him - seem something of a flaky idiot. Literally every second chapter he is flying off to Africa with Bono. Is trying to solve Ghana's water problem in the job description of Treasury Secretary of the United States, a job founded by Alexander Hamilton? This kind of outside-the-box enthusiasm may have worked at Alcoa, but it doesn't suit one of the highest offices in the land, and (if true) is cause enough for Cheney to have fired him, notwithstanding his non-cooperation with most of the administration on most economic issues, especially tax cuts.
That said, still worth reading, particularly for its stuff on Iraq policy.
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