Unimpressed, Part II

Michael Kinsley is even less impressed with Paul O’Neill than the Washington Post. After noting various instances of O’Neill’s vanity, Kinsley get to the heart of the matter: “O’Neill seems genuinely surprised to discover that Bush actually does intend to cut taxes (as he promised repeatedly in his campaign); that the administration wants “regime change” in Iraq (as did the previous administration and almost everyone else in the world — the question was what to do about it); that the president would, on balance, prefer to be reelected; and so on. Not a single weapon of mass destruction was wheeled into his office during his entire two-year tenure.” Kinsley concludes that “the only solid punch [O’Neill] lands on President Bush is unintentional: What kind of idiot would hire this idiot as secretary of the Treasury?”