How Bush Landed a Wall Street Titan for Treasury
The President had to work hard to convince Goldman Sachs chairman Hank Paulson that he would really have a seat, and a voice, at the table
By MIKE ALLEN/WASHINGTON
(CHARLES DHARAPAK / AP)
President Bush listens as Goldman Sachs Chairman Henry M. Paulson Jr., who is Bush's choice to replace outgoing Treasury Secretary John Snow, speaks at White House Tuesday, May 30, 2006 in Washington
President George Bush has long made it clear that he identifies more with Main Street than with Wall Street, but even he had to know that his Administration has not done a very good job lately of selling the notion of a Bush economic boom to Main Street. So Tuesday's announcement that Goldman Sachs chairman Henry Paulson, who holds the world's most prestigious investment banking job, had agreed to be nominated for Treasury Secretary was a thrilling coup for a White House that has had little cause for rejoicing lately.
"We landed the whale," one senior administration official declared. One veteran of the administration said that Paulson, a Harvard MBA just like his new boss, is so respected by the markets and media that his confirmation and honeymoon will finally give the administration a clean shot at telling "a very fact-based story about the strength of the U.S. economy."
The Administration almost didn't get that opportunity. Bush's aides had been trying to find a successor to John Snow on Wall Street for months, but the most promising candidates had turned them down — including Paulson, just a few months ago. One of the reasons Bush had such a hard time landing a master of the universe like Paulson is that the Treasury job had shrunk during his presidency — at least in the estimation of Wall Street — from a premier policymaking platform to a cheerleading outpost subservient to the West Wing.
But an official involved in the selection process said Bush "took it up himself, and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer." Aides said Bush convinced his quarry that he would have a seat and voice at the table, and the President seemed to underscore that during his Rose Garden announcement by saying that "Paulson will be my principal advisor on the broad range of domestic and international economic issues that affect the well-being of all Americans."...
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1199374,00.html?cnn=yes