Trajan
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interesting article. The mechanics are one thing, I was looking for the flavor of the atmosphere and decision making process......I recommend the whole article, pretty good overview.
a few items caught my eye in particular, noted below.
The West Wing, Season II
Almost overnight, Barack Obama overhauled his White House and rewrote much of the script. Now all he needs is a happy ending.
"The more pointed variant of this critique was directed specifically at Obama. Unlike 42—who loved to stay up late, jabbing at the speed dial, spending countless hours gabbing with local pols and businesspeople around the country to gauge the political wind and weather—44 not only eschewed reaching out to governors, mayors, or CEOs, but he rarely consulted outside the tiny charmed circle surrounding him in the White House. 'What you had was really three or four people running the entire government,' says the former White House strategist. 'I thought they put a pretty good Cabinet together, but most of those guys might as well be in the witness-protection program.'
A funny line, no doubt, but an overstatement, surely? Well, maybe not. "I happen to know most of the Cabinet pretty well, and I get together with them individually for lunch," says one of the most respected Democratic bigwigs in Washington. "I've had half a dozen Cabinet members say that in the first two years, they never had one call—not one call—from the president." . . . The president's friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett sometimes pointed out that not only had he never managed an operation, he'd never really had a nine-to-five job in his life. Obama didn't know what he didn't know, yet his self-confidence was so stratospheric that once, in the context of thinking about [Rahm] Emanuel's replacement, he remarked in all seriousness, "You know, I'd make a good chief of staff."
its 5 pages but a good quick read I think..
Where the Obama Administration Intends to Take the Country and How It Plans to Do So -- New York Magazine
a few items caught my eye in particular, noted below.
The West Wing, Season II
Almost overnight, Barack Obama overhauled his White House and rewrote much of the script. Now all he needs is a happy ending.
"The more pointed variant of this critique was directed specifically at Obama. Unlike 42—who loved to stay up late, jabbing at the speed dial, spending countless hours gabbing with local pols and businesspeople around the country to gauge the political wind and weather—44 not only eschewed reaching out to governors, mayors, or CEOs, but he rarely consulted outside the tiny charmed circle surrounding him in the White House. 'What you had was really three or four people running the entire government,' says the former White House strategist. 'I thought they put a pretty good Cabinet together, but most of those guys might as well be in the witness-protection program.'
A funny line, no doubt, but an overstatement, surely? Well, maybe not. "I happen to know most of the Cabinet pretty well, and I get together with them individually for lunch," says one of the most respected Democratic bigwigs in Washington. "I've had half a dozen Cabinet members say that in the first two years, they never had one call—not one call—from the president." . . . The president's friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett sometimes pointed out that not only had he never managed an operation, he'd never really had a nine-to-five job in his life. Obama didn't know what he didn't know, yet his self-confidence was so stratospheric that once, in the context of thinking about [Rahm] Emanuel's replacement, he remarked in all seriousness, "You know, I'd make a good chief of staff."
its 5 pages but a good quick read I think..
Where the Obama Administration Intends to Take the Country and How It Plans to Do So -- New York Magazine
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