Meet John Snow. He's the chairman, president, and chief exec of freight and transport conglomerate CSX. Like VP Cheney, he was a staffer for President Ford. And now he'll most likely be the United States' new Treasury secretary, with former Goldman Sachs bigwig Stephen Friedman taking over as the chief White House economist. They're quick replacements for the guys that got canned on Friday.
We didn't even have to reach for analysis and commentary to find Snow getting smacked down. Some of the facts punish Snow just fine on their own. The Associated Press, voted Most Likely to Be Widely Distributed in the media yearbook, said Snow gave $1,000 to Bush's presidential primary campaign -- and an equal amount to his opponent John McCain, but we suppose the $23,000 he gave to Republican candidates in the 2001-2 election cycle was enough to earn Bush's forgiveness. The AP also said "Snow took a potentially damaging issue off the table by resigning his membership in Augusta National," the controversial men-only golf club to which he belonged as recently as September.
It's that kind of what-will-the-press-think move that differentiates Snow from ousted Treasury secretary Paul O'Neill. Many observers agreed that the two men look similar on paper, but that Snow will keep his foot out of his mouth. "The president wants not a new message but a new messenger," one economist told the Minneapolis/St. Paul Star Tribune. Bush now "has the team he thought he had picked in Messrs O'Neill and Lindsey," said the Independent (UK), "a widely admired CEO with a proven track record at Treasury, and a smooth operator as his chief White House economic adviser." UPI said "it seems that the personnel change will be more of the same in terms of both personality and policy," and that's why Wall Street shrugged off the announcement. Many reporters and pundits referred to Snow as either a "messenger" or a "salesman."
Investors might also be displeased because, as the Economist put it, Snow is "not the senior financier or economist that the markets were hoping for" and "CSX is not a shining example of corporate efficiency." A money manager told TheStreet.com, "This guy ran a railroad whose stock has fallen on his watch, and he worked in the Ford administration when we had another recession. What's he going to do to fix the economy?"
CNN's Allen Wastler said Snow might actually be a good choice, because "if you are looking for someone who has an understanding of lots of U.S.-based businesses, a railroad guy is a good candidate." Wastler, who used to cover Snow as a reporter for transport trade magazines, said Snow's inability to make "the kind of foot-in-mouth, buck-the-trend type of news reporters savor" may be the White House's favorite thing about him. -Jen Muehlbauer
Rail Exec Nominated for Treasury Chief (AP)
http://tinyurl.com/3e9c
Bush's Moves Don't Impress Economists
http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/3521165.html
Analysis: New Face Same Woes For Treasury?
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20021209-023849-5370r
Bush Learns The Lesson: It's The Economy, Stupid
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news_analysis/story.jsp?story=360172
A Choo-Choo Choice
http://money.cnn.com/2002/12/09/commentary/wastler/wastler/
A train man at the Treasury
http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1488152
Snowblind: Treasury Pick's Debut Doesn't Lift Market
http://www.thestreet.com/markets/aarontaskfree/10057834.html
A Smooth Operator in Snow
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-profile10dec10.story
Bush Picks CSX Corp. Chief for Treasury
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30445-2002Dec9.html
Bush Taps John Snow As Treasury Secretary
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1039444493918759313,00.html
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CSX Might Leave Richmond
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/localupdates/MGB1BZWPI9D.html
