A little snippy here and there, but some great lines, too.
Of course, Obama fell in love with having the JFK fairy dust heaped on him too. (As the old Aretha Franklin song goes, Who’s Zoomin’ Who?) Every other Democratic contender since 1968 has yearned for the Kennedy anointment as The Next One. Gary Hart actually got to fiddling with his suit jacket pocket the same way JFK did, and John Edwards—oh, how John Edwards wanted them to say it about him! That stuff will go to your head! Even a lowlife like Rod Blagojevich thought the shock of hair might confer the magic.
Emphasis added; it seems appropriate.
Showing posts with label JFK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JFK. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Thursday, November 20, 2008
A Plinth Grows in Brooklyn
A monument does not grow in Brooklyn (excuse the pun on the book 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn').
Thursday, November 6, 2008
What Do We Do Now?
77 days to get ready to govern. In normal circumstances, 11 weeks would seem enough to get started. These are hardly normal times. Still, Obama has already started, surely; if he is anything, he is an organizer, a planner.
This new book seems an interesting one:What Do We Do Now? by Stephen Hess (Brookings, 174 pages, $16.95).
Scholars generally consider Ronald Reagan's transition the gold standard, while Mr. Carter's and Bill Clinton's are case studies in how not to do it. Reagan proceeded magisterially, with staffing overseen by Ed Meese, policy planned by the Heritage Foundation and logistical support provided by Bill Brock, "the most creative Republican national chairman since Mark Hanna," in Mr. Hess's words.
Interesting that the Heritage Foundation planned policy; that makes it more than just a think tank. It makes more a quasi-governmental organizational, even an extension of government.
Mr. Carter was determined to be the opposite of Nixon, who had brought in Washington legend Bryce Harlow and other members of the Establishment to smooth his transition. So Mr. Carter turned to his "Georgia mafia." He made the disastrous decision to appoint as his congressional liaison Frank Moore, a man whose legislative lobbying had been limited to Atlanta.
Carter made it his business to alienate official Washington.
Bill Clinton admitted in his memoirs that he spent so much time "micromanaging the cabinet appointments" that he only got around to naming his White House staff six days before his Inauguration. The result was a chaotic first few months in which his big-ticket agenda was sidetracked by the debate over gays in the military.
Poor, if any, planning, seat-of-the-pants (or back-of-the-envelope) managing, and poor execution. A trifecta.
Mr. Hess warns against what he calls the Contrariness Principle. JFK summarily disbanded Ike's National Security Council only to find himself, three months later, without any functioning structure during the Bay of Pigs crisis.
Obama isn't going to repeat that sort of mistake; he has old Kennedy hands available, and has consulted them.
Mr. Carter got rid of the "Berlin Wall" that H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman were supposed to have built around Nixon and ended up getting personally involved in decisions about who could play on the White House tennis court.
Obama seems to know how to delegate. And his game is basketball, anyway.
And Mr. Clinton, eager to demonstrate that the abrasive zero-tolerance administrative style of John Sununu was a thing of the past, installed his old buddy Mack McLarty, whose talents were considerable but (as he himself protested) did not include administrative organization.
In an ironic twist, Obama is tapping an old Clinton hand, Emmanuel, as his chief of staff.
Perhaps "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" banners should hang in every transition office – reminders that Michael Brown's qualification for being appointed head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2003 was having served as the Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association.
How the hell did he ever get an appointment of any sort? Perhaps this example is illustrative: Paul O'Neill, the Treasury secretary from January 2001 to December 2002, told Mr. Bush and Dick Cheney that he disagreed with vital elements of their economic policies and added that he wouldn't be comfortable in a subordinate position after having been Alcoa's chief executive. They both laughed, and Mr. Bush said: "We know all that stuff. Doesn't matter. We want you to take the job." Mr. Hess writes: "What is so stunning about this mistake is how totally self-inflicted it was."
So why did O'Neill take it, anyway?
This new book seems an interesting one:What Do We Do Now? by Stephen Hess (Brookings, 174 pages, $16.95).
Scholars generally consider Ronald Reagan's transition the gold standard, while Mr. Carter's and Bill Clinton's are case studies in how not to do it. Reagan proceeded magisterially, with staffing overseen by Ed Meese, policy planned by the Heritage Foundation and logistical support provided by Bill Brock, "the most creative Republican national chairman since Mark Hanna," in Mr. Hess's words.
Interesting that the Heritage Foundation planned policy; that makes it more than just a think tank. It makes more a quasi-governmental organizational, even an extension of government.
Mr. Carter was determined to be the opposite of Nixon, who had brought in Washington legend Bryce Harlow and other members of the Establishment to smooth his transition. So Mr. Carter turned to his "Georgia mafia." He made the disastrous decision to appoint as his congressional liaison Frank Moore, a man whose legislative lobbying had been limited to Atlanta.
Carter made it his business to alienate official Washington.
Bill Clinton admitted in his memoirs that he spent so much time "micromanaging the cabinet appointments" that he only got around to naming his White House staff six days before his Inauguration. The result was a chaotic first few months in which his big-ticket agenda was sidetracked by the debate over gays in the military.
Poor, if any, planning, seat-of-the-pants (or back-of-the-envelope) managing, and poor execution. A trifecta.
Mr. Hess warns against what he calls the Contrariness Principle. JFK summarily disbanded Ike's National Security Council only to find himself, three months later, without any functioning structure during the Bay of Pigs crisis.
Obama isn't going to repeat that sort of mistake; he has old Kennedy hands available, and has consulted them.
Mr. Carter got rid of the "Berlin Wall" that H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman were supposed to have built around Nixon and ended up getting personally involved in decisions about who could play on the White House tennis court.
Obama seems to know how to delegate. And his game is basketball, anyway.
And Mr. Clinton, eager to demonstrate that the abrasive zero-tolerance administrative style of John Sununu was a thing of the past, installed his old buddy Mack McLarty, whose talents were considerable but (as he himself protested) did not include administrative organization.
In an ironic twist, Obama is tapping an old Clinton hand, Emmanuel, as his chief of staff.
Perhaps "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" banners should hang in every transition office – reminders that Michael Brown's qualification for being appointed head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2003 was having served as the Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association.
How the hell did he ever get an appointment of any sort? Perhaps this example is illustrative: Paul O'Neill, the Treasury secretary from January 2001 to December 2002, told Mr. Bush and Dick Cheney that he disagreed with vital elements of their economic policies and added that he wouldn't be comfortable in a subordinate position after having been Alcoa's chief executive. They both laughed, and Mr. Bush said: "We know all that stuff. Doesn't matter. We want you to take the job." Mr. Hess writes: "What is so stunning about this mistake is how totally self-inflicted it was."
So why did O'Neill take it, anyway?
Saturday, March 29, 2008
How Carla revived Camelot
Ms. Bruni-Sarkozy's pillbox hat and the splash it, and she, made.
From the moment Ms Bruni-Sarkozy descended her plane in belted grey coat and pillbox hat, demure and silent by her husband’s side, to her evening appearance at Windsor in navy blue column with chiffon cape and the later grey trousers/purple coat combo, she overtly echoed the signature style of one of the most admired political wives: Jackie Kennedy.
Imagine that: Carla Bruni demure. And, yes, the pictures showed exactly that.
If she’s Jackie, after all, that makes her husband Jack. And whatever history now tells us about Kennedy’s extra-curricular activities, the universal clichés of Camelot still hold: of youth, energy, beauty and the promise of a new generation.
Extra-curricular - quite an euphemism. Fascinating that Sarko chooses an American President as the model he seeks to emulate, to be identified with. Of course, JFK has an unique image. No one else, no US president certainly, and no other leader, period, has that sort of charismatic, youthful political exuberance. A French president? DeGaulle? Pompidou? Even Chirac: he has the French savoir faire, but not charisma. English? Plu-eez.
While paying homage to JFK confirms the image of “Sarkozy the American”, the suits worn by Ms Bruni-Sarkozy also deftly maintain a connection to a French past. Just like the previous president’s wife, Bernadette Chirac, she has worn Christian Dior throughout her visit, using it almost as a state uniform. Even beyond its symbolism of a French couture tradition, the display of Dior does no harm to Sarkozys’ friends in big business: Bernard Arnault, chairman of Dior, is the richest man in France; and Nicolas Bazire, chief executive of his holding company, Groupe Arnault, was a witness at the Sarkozy-Bruni wedding.
Nice friends to have: Arnault is ranked 7th in the Forbes list of the world's richest person; his company is LVMH, Louis Vouton-Moet Hennesy, with brands including Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Christian Dior and Mokt & Chandon. A graduate of Ecole Polytechnique de Paris, he is part of the élite of France.
From the moment Ms Bruni-Sarkozy descended her plane in belted grey coat and pillbox hat, demure and silent by her husband’s side, to her evening appearance at Windsor in navy blue column with chiffon cape and the later grey trousers/purple coat combo, she overtly echoed the signature style of one of the most admired political wives: Jackie Kennedy.
Imagine that: Carla Bruni demure. And, yes, the pictures showed exactly that.
If she’s Jackie, after all, that makes her husband Jack. And whatever history now tells us about Kennedy’s extra-curricular activities, the universal clichés of Camelot still hold: of youth, energy, beauty and the promise of a new generation.
Extra-curricular - quite an euphemism. Fascinating that Sarko chooses an American President as the model he seeks to emulate, to be identified with. Of course, JFK has an unique image. No one else, no US president certainly, and no other leader, period, has that sort of charismatic, youthful political exuberance. A French president? DeGaulle? Pompidou? Even Chirac: he has the French savoir faire, but not charisma. English? Plu-eez.
While paying homage to JFK confirms the image of “Sarkozy the American”, the suits worn by Ms Bruni-Sarkozy also deftly maintain a connection to a French past. Just like the previous president’s wife, Bernadette Chirac, she has worn Christian Dior throughout her visit, using it almost as a state uniform. Even beyond its symbolism of a French couture tradition, the display of Dior does no harm to Sarkozys’ friends in big business: Bernard Arnault, chairman of Dior, is the richest man in France; and Nicolas Bazire, chief executive of his holding company, Groupe Arnault, was a witness at the Sarkozy-Bruni wedding.
Nice friends to have: Arnault is ranked 7th in the Forbes list of the world's richest person; his company is LVMH, Louis Vouton-Moet Hennesy, with brands including Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Christian Dior and Mokt & Chandon. A graduate of Ecole Polytechnique de Paris, he is part of the élite of France.
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