Ron Suskind's critical book on Obama sparks controversy
From the point of view of the White House, there's really no ideal time for a negative book about an incumbent administration to be released.
But there are could hardly by a worse moment for the presidency of Barack Obama, who鈥檚 currently battling shrinking approval ratings, a wheezing economy, and daunting reelection prospects. So the release of "Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington and the Education of a President" by Ron Suskind 鈥� the same journalist who wrote three image-tarnishing books about former president Bush 鈥� isn鈥檛 exactly being viewed as a welcome event by the West Wing. Quite the contrary: , who spoke with White House officials about the book, says the administration has launched an 鈥渁ggressive鈥� response to the book, with some sources claiming to have been misquoted.
Suskind says he conducted 746 hours of interviews with over 200 people, including a 50-minute interview with the president himself. In the book, Obama is derided by former members of his economic team, including Lawrence H. Summers, a former chairman of the National Economic Council and U.S. Treasury Secretary under former president Clinton. In the book, Summers is quoted as telling the budget director Peter Orzsag, 鈥淲e鈥檙e home alone. There鈥檚 no adult in charge. Clinton would never have made these mistakes.鈥�
Suskind says that the actions of Summers and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner 鈥渉ad contributed to the very financial disaster they were hired to solve鈥� in the book, according to .
Allegations of a hostile workplace for women also surface in the book, with former communications director Anita Dunn saying, 鈥淟ooking back, this place would be in court for a hostile workplace ... Because it actually fits all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace for women.鈥�
But now some people quoted have told news sources that their words were either embroidered or simply not quoted correctly. Summers told The Washington Post that 鈥渢he hearsay attributed to me鈥� is a combination of fiction, distortion, and words taken out of context.鈥� Dunn also denied her quote, saying to Politico, 鈥淭his is not what I told the author, this is not what I believe and anyone who knows me and my history of supporting this president as a candidate and in office knows this isn鈥檛 true.鈥�
Communications director Dan Pfeiffer says the book is filled with 鈥渄rama, palace intrigue and salacious details based on anonymous accounts,鈥� according to . The book 鈥� which concludes in early 2011 鈥� doesn鈥檛 include more recent events such as Obama鈥檚 decision to approve the bin Laden mission or his battle with Congress on the debt ceiling.
Suskind, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his work at The Wall Street Journal, has not yet commented on the allegations made by his sources.
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