The outspoken ONeill has often been out of step with the White House
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The White House is looking for at least one new member of its economic team who can speak the language of the financial markets and calm them when necessary. "The model is Bob Rubin," said a White House insider of the Goldman, Sachs co-chairman, who headed the National Economic Council (NEC) and then the Treasury Department during the Clinton Administration. Bush advisers say Stephen Friedman, who co-chaired Goldman at Rubin's side, is being courted heavily for the NEC job. But candidates for other spots on the economic team have also been sought among nonfinancial companies. Though Bush recognizes that his lifelong skepticism of Wall Street may have shaken its faith in his policies, he has not lost his view that business leaders who borrow to build things, rather than those who do the lending, are the ones who know best how the real economy works.
The new economic team will face high expectations for quick progress amid a contentious political climate. "If they don't have a good plan, it doesn't matter which team they've got," said outgoing Senate majority leader Tom Daschle. With deficits returning, the new Treasury Secretary's confirmation hearings are certain to become a forum for Bush's critics, who say he has tossed aside fiscal discipline to give handouts to the wealthy. Administration officials scoff. Says a senior aide: "Show me somewhere in history where someone has paid a political price for deficits." That's exactly the kind of talk that could spook the bond markets. So while it's easy to write off Lindsey and O'Neill as bunglers, they may not be such an easy act to follow until the Bush team gets the sound track right.
