Peter Orszag Flees White House
No sooner had the news of White House budget director Peter Orszag’s resignation hit the wires than a series of explanatory narratives emerged to accompany him out the door.
Complicated personal life, implied the Washington Post, recalling “the news that he had fathered a child with ex-girlfriend Claire Milonas, a Greek shipping heiress, and that he had become engaged to ABC News reporter Bianna Golodryga. Their wedding is planned for September.”
Move along please, nothing to see here, insisted the New York Times: “Orszag … somewhat reluctantly accepted Mr. Obama’s invitation to join the cabinet after the 2008 election and never planned to stay more than two years. Typically, budget directors do not.” Funny, we don’t recall hearing much about Mr. Orszag’s reluctance to accept the job at the time he was named to the post. It is true, though, that President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton each burned through four budget directors during their eight-year presidencies. (A seat at the table to anyone who can name all eight without looking them up on the Internets.)
Mr. Orszag “is likely to join a think tank, colleagues said,” reports Mike Allen of Politico. Mr. Allen doesn’t add it, but he’s also likely to try to monetize his experience some other way, either through paid speaking engagements, a book, a television deal, or a David Stockman-style magazine article.
Mickey Kaus, the blogger-turned-California Senate candidate-turned-blogger-again (he never really stopped being a blogger, actually), has been one of Mr. Orszag’s most persistent critics, coining the term Orszagism for the budget director’s approach of selling ObamaCare to Congress and the public as a way of reducing the federal budget deficit by bending the health care cost curve downward. The public had a hard time believing that you could provide health care to tens of millions more people without spending more money, and Mr. Kaus still doesn’t buy it, remarking that Mr. Orszag is “leaving before the curve hits the fan,” i.e., before it becomes clear that ObamaCare won’t actually save the federal government money, but will instead increase the size of the federal deficit.
ah, the rats are starting to bail.
Orszag did enough to make himself worthy of a chapter in one of Orwell’s books. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that his successor will be any better…
Can anyone name one prediction he made as OMB director on any topic that was accurate?
Hey, this is just Right-Wing hate speech! Why should we lose confidence in the nation’s budget when we dont have one? It isnt like the Dems are going to use the lack of a budget to resolution to spend however much money they want to spend on whatever they want without any public disclosure. That would be irresponsible. I think its great that they’ve laid off the Budget Director and dispensed with the budget process entirely. Its kind of like the ‘virtual fence’ keeping our borders safe, this is a ‘virtual budget’ keeping our country solvent and is completely automatic, needing no expensive Budget Director to run it. It’s called THIFTY! And thrifty-ness fills me with renewed confidence in ‘Hope And Change’.
The most likely scenario is that he’s being told to spend more and spend less at the same time.
We’ve all had bosses that didn’t like the true answer and kept firing people until someone gave the “right” answer.
We’ll be seeing a LOT more of this in coming months.
Something about rats and non-floating boats comes to mind…. how does that go again?
Sperling gets my vote: he’s been in the racket a long time, he’s devious, and he’s got his own set of smoke and mirrors. Perfect fit.
With the Telegraph reporting that Rahm Emanuel will resign in “six to eight months” (i.e., about the time that the 112th Congress comes in), it is evident that this is the Chicago cabal’s vote of no confidence in Dunham. He may be allowed to occupy the White House until 20 January 2013, but the cabal will never allow him to run for any office again.
There is no reason for Mr. Orszag to stay, and a big reason for him to leave: one doesn’t need a budget director when there is no budget, and one should get out of town before the various pols start looking for someone to blame as to why there’s no budget.
Federal Budget Director …
Eliminate all three; Problem solved.
I wish I could father a child with a Greek shipping heiress.
Of course you can; first you have to go below decks.
…or if she’s Greek/Australian, you have to go ‘down under’.
tell me about it. these are the problems of the rich.
The most likely scenario is that he’s being told to spend more and spend less at the same time.
We’ve all had bosses that didn’t like the true answer and kept firing people until someone gave the “right” answer.
And then firing everybody when the “right answer” doesn’t work.
I guess he will leave his hairpiece with next years budget !
Sperling is a flake who has repeatedly claimed that higher taxes stimulate economic growth. (I am not making this up.)
His columns* in Bloomberg had all the morbid fascination of a Lyndon LaRouche pamphlet.
Depressingly, I can very easily imagine President Profit-To-Earnings-Ratio appointing Sperling head of OMB.
*I say “columns,” plural. There was a certain sameness to them all, though; I suspect him of writing an original graf or two for each one and then just cutting and pasting randomly from the previous column.
It would only be fitting if he manages to be unable to find himself a private-sector job for the foreseeable future.
Peter Orszag was the federal government official who formally advanced the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” He exhibited a complete lack of respect for the Constitution (where does a budget director get the authority to make policy for the military? Congress is on the hook for that, and then the President as Commander in Chief. This bozo isn’t even in the chain of command).
Furthermore, that policy he advanced assumes that people in the military can control their sexual urges, such as when in a foxhole or a group shower. This is a good assumption for straight soldiers of the same sex, but only those. But then he shows he can’t keep his own pants on, but distinguishes himself through fornication, and carelessly at that. What a lousy hypocrite. Good riddance, and don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Ahat about the rest of us…? Can we just resign and get a better job in the private sector ? Or a better, NOT a New, deal?
Adios, MF!
Agree with you completely and with the author, he is leaving before the “curve hits the fan”. Is it fair to say he has trouble accepting responsibility? Or is he thin-skinned like his boss–but smarter–and sees the coming reality when his ideas are put to the test? Good riddance; please take Larry Summers with you.
Shrillary will bail after the election…
The story is incomplete. Was he doing the backstroke, the breast stroke (?), or most appropriately of all, the crawl? Can rats do the dog paddle?
Bloody November is coming. Everyone will want to bail.
Hmmmm . . . lesseee, a “progressive” liberal makes a mess, the ooze begins to seep out, then he runs away so others must clean it up, with us taxpayer schmucks picking up the tab. Where have we seen this before? Let me count the ways. Why is this not surprising? All of you above predicting more of this to come are spot on. The problem is, even though the rats are starting to bail, the stench of corruption and incompetence remains.
#16 FlashHole: Don’t worry about him finding his next meal . . . fathering a child with a Greek shipping heiress (Can someone explain why shipping heiresses all seem to be Greek?) probably secured him a sizable bank account for the rest of his life. His biggest decision(s) will probably be where to spend his summers with the kid. My guess is it’ll be paling around with Tony Hayward in the South of England attending yacht races & polo matches. The poor thing may also have to pick which steak & caviar to order.
“(A seat at the table to anyone who can name all eight without looking them up on the Internets.)” Hmmm, I didn’t know there was more than one internet; how does one find the others?
he sent them back saying he wanted the figures spelled out to $12,400,000. ‘I want every zero put in there,’ he said. ‘I want those guys to realize they’re spending real money.’”
Telling. He’s only half-way there, still rounding to the nearest 100,000.
Too bad the figures weren’t spelled out to $12,158,150
he sent them back saying he wanted the figures spelled out to $12,400,000. ‘I want every zero put in there,’ he said. ‘I want those guys to realize they’re spending real money.’”
Telling. Still rounding out tens of thousands. Why not spell it out to $12,358,150.
Mr. Orszag “is likely to join a think tank, colleagues said,”
where all curves bend downwards.
I have wanted to join one’a them there ‘think tank’ things fer years. Ya get lotsa grants (free money,right?),get to hang out with smart folks, an’ just think’a stuff, right? Well, I’m as qualified as the next guy, so….where do I sign up?
Orszag curve = fail
Laffer curve = win
Start off the cleanup campaign by getting rid of the in house Ethics comm and picking one member from each state to form an Ethic`s citizen audience.Then a private security financial group to analyze all IRS history and Net Worth for as long as the honorables have been in DC and government.And no passes for those no longer in congress.
After all the billions have been collected,build a Hall of Shame for those the Ethics Comm have exposed
Only in America could someone who looks like a Pez dispenser marry a supermodel.
Is it any wonder that half the globe wants to move to the USA?
What is ‘complicated’ is his financial balance sheet and how it’s connected to the pending policies coming from the W.H. and his financial aspirations.
That guy has sure been one rotten “pubic servant,” I’d say! Here’s your hat – what’s your hurry?
LMAO!!! All of you have great senses of humor!!!! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each and every comment!! And totally agree with all of you…..thank you for making me laugh today………