Let it Snow

摘要

George bush capitalised swiftly on his extraordinary victory in the midterm elections by trying to fix his administration's biggest liability: his economics team. On December 6th, Paul O'Neill, the treasury secretary, and Larry Lindsey, the chief economic adviser, were given the order of the boot. (The kicker in Mr O'Neill's case was Dick Cheney, an old friend who had been responsible for hiring him in the first place.) The White House then rapidly named John Snow as treasury secretary, hinted that it wanted Stephen Friedman as economic adviser and pulled in William Donaldson, a veteran banker, to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. All very efficient and vicious. Yet, nearly a week later, the White House is beginning to look a little less omnipotent. Mary Landrieu, Louisiana's Democratic Senator, survived a frontal assault from the Bush machine to win re-election (see next story). Now Republicans are feuding about economic policy―with Mr Friedman's appointment still in doubt as The Economist went to press.