Oh, You Mean Leon Panetta …

“I think Leon Panetta is a terrific choice … He’s just a terrific guy. He’s got a good sense of humor, and he’s got a really good sense of the American people and what they want.” — Clinton adviser Paul Begala, commenting on Leon Panetta’s appointment as White House chief of staff

“Begala felt as if he were from a different country than some of the senior Clinton officials … The worst of them, Begala felt, was Leon Panetta, the former congressman from Carmel Valley. Begala felt that of all 435 congressional districts, Panetta’s was least representative of America — the pure, elitist, unreal world of California dreaming. Panetta seemed to love talking about nothing more than deficit reduction … In private, ((Begala)) began applying a new label to the budget director: ‘The Poster Boy for ) Economic Constipation.”‘ — from Bob Woodward’s The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House