He was as good as gone. For two weeks, every White House aide with access to a phone had leaked word that Treasury Secretary John Snow was on his way out, sooner rather than later. Just last week, the Washington Post reported, “One senior administration official said Treasury Secretary John W. Snow can stay as long as he wants, provided it is not very long.”
And yet, yesterday we learn that Snow, after two weeks of twisting in the wind without White House support, has been invited to stay on as Treasury Secretary. How’d this happen? Well, apparently the White House tried to replace him, but found that no one else wanted the job.
Snow was kept on only after the White House considered a variety of possible replacements and sounded out at least one top official on Wall Street. That executive turned the White House down, according to financial executives.
Bush was looking for a replacement because Republican leaders on Capitol Hill said he needed a more dynamic outsider of stature to sell skeptical lawmakers on his politically risky proposals to rewrite the tax code and allow workers to invest part of their Social Security taxes in stocks and bonds.
Administration officials said that when no ideal successor could be found, Bush aides decided to retain Snow to put an end to rampant speculation that the former railroad executive was on his way out. The aides feared that the uncertainty would leave Snow damaged on Wall Street and Capitol Hill as Bush began the fight for his ambitious second-term agenda, and they decided the president would benefit from continuity on the economic team as he developed details of the proposals.
That latter justification doesn’t exactly make sense. The White House couldn’t be too worried about having a Treasury Secretary with a “damaged” reputation or Bush aides would have come to Snow’s defense at some point over the last two weeks, instead of constantly leaking word about his imminent dismissal. As it is now, Wall Street and Capitol Hill will view Snow as someone with tepid support from the president, at best, who kept his job because others didn’t want it, and whose stature and influence is even worse than it was before.
Indeed, after the White House sent word through leaks that Snow would soon be replaced, Republicans in DC felt unencumbered to question Snow’s effectiveness and competence.
“It’s been an empty chair for the last four years,” said Republican strategist Scott Reed.
[…]
“There is a feeling among many people that Treasury is not ready to move forward on tax reform proposals yet and there is some dissatisfaction with that,” [economist Douglas Lee of Economics from Washington] said. “I haven’t heard of anyone who says that they have been bowled over or greatly impressed by Secretary Snow.”
Oops.
So, why not just fire the guy and find some shill to fill his chair? One, as noted above, no qualified people want to work for a White House that marginalizes real economists. And two, Snow’s replacement might actually push for fiscal sanity — and the right didn’t want to take the chance of that happening.
Once [former Sen. Phil] Gramm was out of the running, conservatives realized the remaining candidates were Wall Street executives who might put their concern about rising budget deficits ahead of a push for lower taxes, said Stephen Moore, president of the conservative political action committee Club for Growth. Given their options, they decided Snow would be the best Treasury chief to push the partial privatization of Social Security and, especially, a restructuring of the tax code.
Indeed, Snow’s record on tax reform would suggest he would be more committed to slashing taxes on savings and investment than Gramm, said Cesar Conda, a former domestic policy aide to Vice President Cheney.
In other words, Bush’s far-right base wanted Snow to keep his job, despite his failures and incompetence, because he’ll embrace Bush’s reckless and irresponsible fiscal policies, whatever they may be. Great.