Leading the Way Down

Waiting for Snow to fall
April 30, 2006
Jonathan Chait

OH, THE HUMILIATION of being John Snow.

In November 2004, the Washington Post's Mike Allen reported the president would replace his widely derided Treasury secretary soon. "One senior administration official said Treasury Secretary John W. Snow can stay as long as he wants, provided it is not very long," reported Allen. "He might stay as long as six months into the term, officials said."

That was a year and a half ago. Snow is still with us. Subsequent reports have made it clear that Snow has kept his job only because the White House cannot entice any qualified candidates to take it. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Treasury Department's diminished role "could make it hard for the administration to replace Mr. Snow with that kind of high-profile Wall Street or corporate executive." The story proceeded to discuss various candidates who had no interest in the job.

I'm not sure which aspect of the situation is weirder. On the one hand, President Bush's inability to lure a Treasury secretary appears puzzling. The job pays well. It comes with a large office in a classic Greco-Roman building in downtown Washington, health benefits, a security detail and other perks. Previous Treasury secretaries have gone on to prestigious posts, such as the presidency of Harvard. And yet no takers. Has Bush tried a classified ad?

On the other hand, you've got Snow staying in the job despite the fact that everybody knows he's not wanted. The only thing keeping him in place is the fact that his position has become so diminished that no candidates of any stature will take it. Imagine your husband lets it be known that he's going to leave you as soon as he can find a date, but it turns out that no woman in town is willing to go out with him. And you're still with him 18 months later.

Snow endured all this degradation with good cheer. What seems to have caused him, finally, to snap is the establishment of the Hamilton Project. The Hamilton Project is a group formed earlier this year by a gaggle of center-left economic worthies, including former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, to promote Clintonesque policy alternatives. The adoption of Hamilton's name, and the inclusion of Snow's infinitely better-regarded predecessor, seems to carry the implicit message that the country would be in better shape if it had a real Treasury secretary.

It was all too much for Snow to bear. He quickly delivered a speech wrapping himself in Hamilton's mantle. "Hamilton, after all, was foremost among the founding fathers in seeing that the new republic's future depended upon the vitality of commerce and the private sector," argued Snow, "while the authors of the Hamilton Project argue for a larger government role."

He then boldly challenged his critics. "For those who criticize the economic policies of President Bush, I simply ask two things: Which of the facts about the current economic picture of growth and job creation do you dispute? And where is your plan for the future?"

The fact that real wages are stagnant or down might have a little something to do with our disillusionment, and might make it harder to find a new secretary who is less willing to lie. The middle class is being pinched. Unlike wealthy cabinet secretaries, they notice it.