Posted on 06/03/2002 7:28:32 AM PDT by LavaDog
President Bush keeps his cabinet and other top people on a short leash--or tries to. Here's why some appointees succeed and others don't--plus, how the current Bushies have done so far.
AFTER THE OVAL OFFICE, the most impressive chamber in the White House is theCabinet Room. High-backed leather chairs, each engraved with the name of a Cabinet secretary, ring a massive oval mahogany table. The men and women who oversee the vast federal bureaucracy can sit there and gaze out at the Rose Garden. If appearances count, this should be the power center of the executive branch.
But as students of Washington politics know, the Cabinet Room is largely for show. Ifyou want to find who's really calling the shots, step across the hall to the smaller, windowless Roosevelt Room, where the president's White House advisers meet.
New presidents always promise to preside over a Cabinet government in which department secretaries set national policy. But in practice, every modern president has turned to a small group of trusted aides in the White House to make the key decisions.
The Cabinet officers? They are expected to carry out orders--even when they disagree with the policy.
Why does a president come to depend on his staff instead of the Cabinet? White House aides tend to have closer personal relationships with the man in the Oval Office, their offices are near his, and they are accountable to no one but the President.
Cabinet secretaries don't always have personal ties to the president, they usually don't get a lot of face time with him, and they tend to become captives of other constituencies. The permanent bureaucracies in their departments will lobby them to resist just about every directive that changes the status quo. Congressional committees and interest groups will try to enlist them in battles with the White House. The media will try to lure them to make news, which means prodding them to say something that can be played up as a break with the president.
To prevent Cabinet members from "going native," a president tries to keep them on a short leash by stressing the importance of following the White House line, not trying to lead it. Bush's Cabinet is on the tightest leash in memory. His mantra: Stay on message, don't upstage the boss, don't leak to the press. and don't even think of committing a disloyal act.
Those rules have been reinforced by Vice President Dick Cheney and a quartet of powerful White House aides: political strategist Karl Rove, chief of staff Andy Card, national security adviser Condi Rice, and counselor Karen Hughes, who is departing this summer.
SO HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE EFFECTIVENESS of a Cabinet officer? Some secretaries might have little impact on policy but are good at promoting the president's agenda or are stars in their own right because they have cultivated good relations with the media and Capitol Hill. They deserve good grades for style but not necessarily for substance.
Consider Secretary of State Colin Powell, whose celebrity rivals that of the president. Powell is blessed with charm and charisma and is loved by the press, Congress, State Department bureaucrats, and the diplomatic community. Yet on policy, he seems like the lonesome dove who loses out to the hawks when it comes to dealing with countries ranging from North Korea to Russia to Israel.
Other Cabinet members might be lacking in the image department but have developed a relationship with the president that makes them powerful players on the inside. An example is Attorney General John Ashcroft. The Justice Department honcho is assailed as a right-winger by the mainstream press, and the former Missouri senator was not particularly popular with his colleagues in Congress. But he has Bush's confidence, and he has skillfully presided over a crackdown the administration says is necessitated by the events of September 11. The impact of the changes in the legal system on his watch will be felt long after he's left the post.
Ideally, a department head wants both steak and sizzle: A strong public persona will help make a Cabinet officer a stronger player within the White House.
"An appealing style can lead to popularity, which can lead to more clout on the Hill and with interest groups to get things done," says Fred Malek, a Washington investment banker who held senior jobs in the Nixon White House and has served as a political adviser to both Presidents Bush.
Exhibit A: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Before 9/11, Rumsfeld was barely known outside Washington. Inside the Beltway, he seemed likely to be the first Cabinet departure because he had alienated Congress, the Pentagon brass, and the media with his suffer-no-fools personality. He seemed to be getting nowhere with military reform, Bush's top priority at the time.
Since the start of the war in Afghanistan, Rumsfeld has become a star at televised Pentagon briefings. His dismissive treatment of reporters, which once seemed a liability, is now a plus with home audiences. Powell was the hero of the Persian Gulf War a decade ago, but "Rummy" is the hero of this war, and that has enhanced his clout with Congress and the White House--so long as the war goes well.
Despite his apparent success in the war on terrorism, Rumsfeld still has been unable to sell Congress or his own generals and admirals on an overhaul of the military. His push to close bases and scrap unneeded weapons so he could devote resources to building a more mobile, high-tech fighting force continues to go nowhere. The moral: Celebrity gets you only so far in this town.
LEON PANETTA, A FORMER CONGRESSMAN who served as budget director and White House chief of staff under President Clinton, says an effective Cabinet secretary needs two traits: leadership and a good public image. "First you have to get a handle on your department and establish that you're in charge," he says. "Then you need charisma--good relations with the press and Congress."
A savvy secretary can parlay an image as a player into more power within his or her department. After all, employees learn more about their boss from what they read in the Washington Post than from departmental communications, and they're more likely to respond to orders from a boss who appears to have juice.
Cabinet officers who demonstrate that they're in charge of their departments and can carry out presidential directives also are taken more seriously inside the White House.
Another advantage of good press relations: "If you make a mistake, you'll get the benefit of the doubt," says Panetta. Policy losses will be viewed as courageous struggles or the voice of reason amid a chorus of zealotry. Malek, who supervised a young White House staffer named Colin Powell three decades ago, praises the now-Secretary of State for advocating pragmatic policies that might seem out of sync with this White House. "You can see he's taking a more moderate point of view that's resulted in a more balanced policy in this administration," Malek says.
The clear failures are Cabinet officers who are miscast in their jobs. They have poor public images and are weak inside players. Panetta points to Tommy Thompson, head of Health and Human Services: "It's obvious he got a job he's not happy with, so it's not working." Thompson, former governor of Wisconsin, reportedly wanted to be Secretary of Transportation.
Another disappointment to the Bushies is Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, whose candor has infuriated denizens of the White House, Capitol Hill, Wall Street, the fourth estate, and even his own Treasury Department. "He's a disaster," says an administration official. "You want to give him credit for speaking his mind. But then you want to shake him for doing it in such a self-righteous, patronizing way."
O'Neill may have guaranteed his early exit from the Cabinet when he criticized Bush's decision to impose tariffs on steel imports to protect the domestic steel industry. O'Neill thought he was speaking at a closed-door meeting, but his comment wound up on the front page of the Post.
"The President was very sensitive about that decision" because he put domestic politics ahead of his free-trade philosophy, admits the administration official. "I don't see how O'Neill can hold on much longer." Malek adds that O'Neill can't look for a lifeline from Wall Street to save him: "The financial community doesn't support him."
Nor does it help that O'Neill and Bush did not know each other before the start of the administration. O'Neill, the former head of Alcoa, was recommended to George Bush by Dick Cheney.
A GOOD PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH the president always helps. Don Evans is a close friend, so it doesn't matter much how he performs as Secretary of Commerce.
But even a personal bond can't compensate for a secretary's physical distance from the Oval Office. Bush enjoys good relations with both Powell and Rumsfeld, who see him regularly as members of the National Security Council. But they don't come close to the access NSC chief Condi Rice has to the president because her office is a short walk from his. She is most attuned to Bush's thinking on foreign matters and is adept at handling all the egos in the room as she guides the NSC toward consensus on issues ranging from relations with China to a possible invasion of Iraq.
"The NSC adviser has a big advantage simply by virtue of being close to the president," Panetta says.
The same can be said of Bush's other top White House advisers. Cheney's counsel is valued on every important decision, but the former Defense secretary keeps a very low profile to squelch stories that he's really running foreign policy for the less-experienced Bush.
Hughes, who plans to return to Texas with her family this summer, has been the ultimate loyalist and confidante, making sure no one strayed far from the reservation or tried to steal credit that should go to the President. That has included political honcho Karl Rove, with whom Bush reportedly was displeased a year ago because of news stories attributing the President's success to Rove's guile.
Andrew Card has one of the lowest profiles of any recent chief of staff. Remember when Donald Regan acted as though he was running the White House instead of Ronald Reagan, or when the first President Bush appeared to be begging his Secretary of State, Jim Baker, to run the White House and save his presidency? This Bush doesn't tolerate self-aggrandizing moves by staffers.
THAT GOES FOR CABINET OFFICERS AS WELL, but some of them seem to take maintaining a low profile too far. Do you know the name of the secretary of Veterans Affairs?
Mel Martinez flies under the radar as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in part because his bailiwick is a low Bush priority. Martinez's low visibility is a lost opportunity, gripe some Republican Party operatives, who say Martinez is articulate, loyal, and politically savvy. They blame Bush's White House staff for not doing more to raise his profile.
Contrast Martinez with Bill Clinton's last HUD secretary, Andrew Cuomo, who used the job to raise his political visibility, steer money to New York, and launch a campaign for New York governor.
Some Republican critics say Bush should try to raise the profiles of the women in his Cabinet to lure more female voters in 2004. Labor secretary Elaine Chao and Agriculture secretary Ann Veneman barely register with the public. About the only time Interior secretary Gale Norton gets publicity is when she is at odds with conservation groups. And EPA administrator Christie Whitman always seems to be in the news for being overruled by the White House when she takes a position supported by environmental groups. But Bush never seems to fret about a Cabinet member whose profile is too low.
Other presidents let their White House staffs and Cabinets wage policy fights in public, but not this one. The fewer leaks, controversies, and conflicts the better.
"This is a team sport," says Malek. "The public has elected only one captain, and he's going to be the only one calling the signals."
Grading the Cabinet
They're a Mix of Breeds With Different Talents, Temperaments, and Personalities. Here's How They're Performing.
1. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman -- Style: C+. Low profile means not much controversy but also scant recognition.; Substance: B. Has a fight on her hands with Greens over opening national forests to logging. Lost battle with Congress over attempt to hold down price of new farm-subsidy bill.
2. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick -- Style: C. Truth is no defense for appearing to know more than everyone else.; Substance: C. Free-trade mantra falls flat in wake of Bush's decision to impose tariffs on foreign steel to protect jobs in states with critical electoral votes.
3. Secretary of State Colin Powell -- Style: A. Everyone loves the avuncular diplomat. Charm, honesty, down-to-earth manner, and commanding presence play well inside and outside Beltway.; Substance: C+. Moderate, internationalist views raise administration's credibility elsewhere but make him odd man out in an administration filled with go-it-alone hardliners.
4. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- Style: A. The human face of the war on terrorism is a ratings hit on TV, thanks to his crusty, take-no-prisoners style and open contempt for whiny reporters.; Substance: A-. The DoD chief routed Taliban and is hunting down bin Laden. But vaunted plans to remake the military into 21st-century fighting force are dead in the water.
5. Interior Secretary Gale Norton -- Style: B+. Comes across as a gutsy fighter caught in controversies with conservationists who assail her for wanting to open up federal lands.; Substance: B. In sync with Bush on issues and still tries to make peace with critics on the left.
6. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson -- Style: D. Former Wisconsin governor looks like unhappiest man in the Cabinet. Didn't he realize that Cabinet bosses have less power than state executives?; Substance: F. Area of expertise is welfare reform at a time when government is obsessed with bioterrorism threats.
7. Budget Director Mitch Daniels -- Style: B-. Liked and respected by his troops but draws bipartisan wrath in Congress over his talk about evils of pork-laden budgets.; Substance: B+. First budget used gimmicks to fulfill pledge to curb spending. After 9/11, produced honest budget and will get most of White House wish list from Congress -- but not sliced pork.
8. Education Secretary Rod Paige -- Style: C+. A creditable but often forgotten frontman for making education reform a high priority.; Substance: C-. White House didn't trust him to negotiate with Congress on reform bill, so it jumped into the talks.
9. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman -- Style: B-. Looks sincere and determined in waging a losing fight for pro-environmental issues within a pro-development administration. Shrewd move: giving dog to Bush.; Substance: D. Admits to getting rolled all the time. Jokes that Cheney's "undisclosed location" is EPA headquarters -- the last place anyone would look for him.
10. Commerce Secretary Don Evans -- Style: B+. President's pal is a telegenic cheerleader for administration policies; Substance: D. Cheerleaders are on the sidelines, not in the game.
11. Attorney General John Ashcroft -- Style: D. Strident, overly serious, and every bit as conservative as his reputation.; Substance: A. The left is apoplectic, but since 9/11 he's had more influence on legal system and civil liberties than any AG in decades.
12. Homeland Defense Director Tom Ridge -- Style: C-. Instead of providing reassuring presence, former Marine hides out in White House. What does he know that he's not telling us?; Substance: C. There hasn't been another terrorist attack -- yet. How much credit does he deserve?
13. CIA Director George Tenet -- Style: B. Comes across as earnest and honest, a dedicated public servant facing one of the greatest challenges in US history.; Substance: B. Even if blameless for 9/11 attacks, how come CIA doesn't have a clue where Osama bin Laden is despite a $25-million bounty on the terrorist leader's head?
14. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill -- Style: F. Anyone have a muzzle? Penchant for speaking own mind would be charming if it didn't antagonize President, Congress, Wall Street, and other nations. Who's left to irritate?; Substance: D. Insiders say Congress passed tax cut and stimulus package despite his help. White House aides joke: One more break with Bush and the President will have to resign.
15. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham -- Style: C. Stuck with selling public on unpopular policies: drilling in Alaska wilderness, building first-strike mini-nukes, shunning enviro views in setting energy policy.; Substance: C. Unlikely to get pro-energy policy through a skeptical Congress.
16. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta -- Style: B. Token Democrat in Cabinet empathizes with travelers' post-9/11 fears and pledges to make flying safer.; Substance: B-. No more hijackings, but passengers wearying of long lines, delays, and random patdowns -- even of grandmothers and infants. Rumors circulate about an early departure.
17, 18, 19. Invisible Trio (Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi) -- Style/Substance: Incomplete. They've kept such low profiles that they've barely made an impression in Washington. Martinez is politically saavy, but he and Chao head agencies that are low priorities for Bush. President called Principi "senator" at a White House event.
Have to take issue with Paul O'Neill, also--I love his bluntness and no-nonsense approach.
There is so mucuh wrong in this article that I won't detail it all, except to say that O'Neill isn't viewed with disfavor in the White House.
I like O'Neill, too, RooRoobird! I especially liked how he stood up to the Europeans and said he wasn't going to be showing up at all their meetings...he would set up a conference call if necessary. Ha!
What a bright idea to pair these two on this important fact-finding tour. It brought visions of Chelsea and her mummy Hitlery riding camels in North Africa while NATO bombed the crap out of Belgrad.
You know, O'Neill going over there by himself wouldn't get any press. At least this way the trip got some coverage. Ha!
I have to say, this part cracked me up.
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