By now, chances are you’ve probably heard about Ron Suskind’s new book, “Confidence Men,” which will be out on bookstore shelves this coming Tuesday, the 20th. While numerous stories on the many bombshells in the book appeared late this past Thursday and Friday, from folks such as Anthony McCartney over at HuffPo to Mark Landler’s piece in the NY Times (and, even right here on DKos, by fellow Kossack andrewj54), the fact remains that very few people have actually read the book.
Late yesterday (Saturday), Frank Rich and Adam Moss sat down and covered the topic over at the New York Magazine blog, after actually reading the book; and their commentary is quite amazing, as they tell us “what’s really in the book.” In fact, I’d say it’s one of this weekend’s must reads.
Check it out via the link right here: “Obama’s Economic Quagmire: Frank Rich and Adam Moss Talk About What’s Really in Ron Suskind’s Revealing New Book About the White House.”
Here’s a portion of Frank Rich’s closing comment in the discussion, where he notes that there will be a ”…doubtlessly entertaining circular firing squad that is likely to emerge in the next week once Summers, Geithner, Warren, Emanuel, Rubin, Volcker, Orszag, Rouse, Barney Frank (who does not fare well), and perhaps the president get their hands on it.”
There are some amazing revelations in this short piece by Rich and Moss with regard to what's in Suskind's book. (One of my favorites is the quote from Senator Byron Dorgan; but, you'll have to read the piece to find out what he told the President.)
Meanwhile, here’s a little more to whet your appetite…
Economic Quagmire: Frank Rich and Adam Moss Talk About What’s Really in Ron Suskind’s Revealing New Book About the White House
Frank Rich and Adam Moss
New York Magazine (nymag.com) Blog
September 17, 2011 4:38 PM
Adam: Hi, Frank. So there’s a little commotion about this new book Confidence Men, by Ron Suskind, which is being published on Tuesday. And as it happens, you and I have actually read it! So let's talk about that this week. To give readers a super-fast overview, it’s a book, essentially, about Obama’s economic team during his first two years in office. The news of the book, according to some reports, is that Tim Geithner was insubordinate to the president, pursuing his own pro-banker agenda. Or, according to other reports, that Larry Summers was insubordinate to the president, pursuing his own — well, monomaniacal agenda. I’d add that it’s also about Rahm Emanuel being insubordinate to the president, just because. Basically, it’s about the presidency being hijacked by these three guys. And the guys thing is important because they’re pretty awful to women. Anyway, they’re the villains. Paul Volcker, Christina Romer, and Elizabeth Warren are the heroes. Bankers win, America loses. Did I get that right?
Frank: Hi, Adam, and yes, you did! I would point out that among the other heroes are more women (Sheila Bair, Brooksley Born, Maria Cantwell) and at least one man, the Princeton economist Alan Krueger, who also seems to be a serious Suskind source and who has now returned to the White House to succeed Austan Goolsbee and Romer as head of the Council of Economic Advisers. Not that that will do any good. I think the portrait of Geithner is devastating — his countermanding of the president's wishes to make a Wall Street object lesson of Citigroup, his nasty "Elizabeth Warren strategy" to silence and neuter the administration's rare genuine reformer. And yet Geithner is the only member of the original economic team still standing in the White House, poised to countermand any other rare independent voice that might yet speak up, like Krueger's…
11:01 AM PT: Some directly related, timely links to a few interesting reads…for context…
NY Times Editorial 9/18/11: “Leadership Crisis”
My Post From April 27th, 2009: “Breaking NYT Expose: Geithner's All But Owned By Wall St.,” on what may well be Gretchen Morgenson’s very best expose’ ever published in the NY Times (on Tim Geithner): “Member and Overseer of the Finance Club.” (NOTE: In Morgenson’s essay you’ll read all about how Robert Rubin, then acting Chair of Citigroup, offered the Citi CEO position to none other than Tim Geithner, in November 2007.)