dispatches from the new world of work

40 Winks

I'd like to get a good night's sleep. But the Terror Threat makes that tough. Mr Bush has a legacy to craft. It will be around the War on Terror (yes, damn it, it is a War) and the commitment to Homeland Security. I want his Legacy to be Churchillian. Which means we need ... politics aside ... a Dream Team in intelligence, defense, and homeland security. Of the three, Defense is in the best shape, Rummy's miscalculations notwithstanding. The man has caused a revolution in military thinking, as I see it. Intelligence and Homeland Security are different kettles of fish.

So here's my Dream Team. As I blogged several days ago I almost desperately want former IBM chief Lou Gerstner as the new intelligence czar. (The enabling legislation was signed into law today.) Smart. Tough. Independent. A bureaucracy buster. At Defense, I'd send Rummy packing and beg John McCain to take over. He is savvy—and would deeply appeal to the troops.

But in these post-BernieK days, I've mostly been thinking about DHS. Here's my surprise pick: Robert Rubin. He's made his political bones as Treasury chief; he's up to it. He's instinctively bi-partisan. He's urban (read New York) in his prejudices, a good thing when it comes to homeland security—face it, my beloved Vermont is not a target. He's independent like Gerstner and McCain. (Not a "yes man" bone among the three.) And, above all, he knows his probabilities—thanks to a Big Brain and superlative Wall Street training. And I've decided we need, to build a lasting DHS, a human calculator who will measure and debate the odds of various nightmare scenarios and apply resources accordingly. Mr Ridge may have done a decent (too decent?) job of calming us down, but he did damn all to create a Revolutionary Organization—which I believe DHS must be if I'm to ever sleep soundly again!

Truth is, when I imagine a Gerstner-McCain-Rubin team, I go as weak in the knees as when thinking about that first, basketball Dream Team. What a trio! My "sixth man," as they say in basketball (fourth in this case), is Giuliani—again, the words "tough," "smart" and "independent" come to mind.

How do you like my team? And my reasoning? Do you agree that we need—like Churchill's cabinet in WWII—above all strong-willed, brilliant, tough leaders in all these slots? I salivate on behalf of President Bush over this Quartet; I think he would dramatically up the odds of leaving a Rushmorean Legacy behind if he truly played the "War President" role and went in a direction like this.

Tom Peters posted this on 12/17/04.

Comments

Gerstner-McCain-Rubin

I canâ€™t say I know Gerstner well enough to comment, but McCain and Rubin on the team would make political news worth watching again. Yet a cabinet post for McCain would stifle his (rumored) political plans in 2008, and things were pretty ugly pre-convention 2000. And I canâ€™t see Rubin and Rove in the same room together, ever.

Giuliani? â€“ Tom, have you been out of the country for the last few weeks?

In principle, your choice has my vote. It make too much sense.

In reality, none would survive a Bush cabinet, let alone be selected for it. How many revolutionaries has Bush chosen for is 2nd term, if ever? How many marshmallows?

Youâ€™re on-message or you are out in this cabinet and thatâ€™s were the really danger lies.

So I think you are only dreaming about that particular Dream Team. Wakeup and come up with a new one please.

Posted by Michael at December 17, 2004 6:13 PM

I'd love to see such important decisions made on merit, but from what I've seen so far from the current administration (and being Canadian, I fully recognize that I am further removed from all the political ins-and-outs in the USA and the media coverage thereof), I'm more inclined to expect continued cronyism in upcoming appointments. It doesn't seem as though the Bush clique appreciates the value of constructive tension on their team (see Powell, Colin).

McCain raising hell in Rumsfeld's wake would be wonderful. I'd be very pleasantly shocked - which would be the first time the Bush administration stimulated such a response from me!

Posted by Peter at December 17, 2004 6:33 PM

Gerstner, McCain and Rubin, OK but where did Giuliani come from? He is out for Giuliani, as witness his continuing diversification into every business out there. By the way, if you want to know who really started a seismic change and major revolution in air and ground warfare, look up Col. John Boyd of the U.S. Air Force. Current bio is out in bookstores. If we could only resurrect him and bring him back today where the need is bigger than ever for someone who really understands what we are faced with in areas of national defense and security. He also taught the Air Force and Pentagon about procurement for major weapons systems and how to control the costs and deliver the goods without all the needless frills and political pork.

Posted by Steve at December 17, 2004 6:53 PM

The Dream Team is awesome - if you REALLY want a compassionate conservative that sticks to what he says BECAUSE he's an intelligent, continuous thinker, look to McCain. And as a former New Yorker (and independent voter) I agree that Rudy ain't no slouch as a backup!

Sad to say that the General Manager of the Team (aka Bush) only seeks out members that will play by his rules rather than be allowed to contribute mind-blowing, "nothin' but net" shots.

Posted by Michele Miller at December 17, 2004 6:56 PM

Thanks Thomas for the designer ideas! McCain's ego is toooooooooo much - nyet to him - this per a retired Air Force general I van pool with and trust!

To me after 25 years in US government - we must demand cooperation/sharing/intelligence analyses that is radical World-class - the new appointees MUST as you say be DEADLY TOUGH - remember the 250+ children killed in Chechnea [sp?] - thanks again!

Posted by Freeman at December 18, 2004 10:22 AM

Sleepless in Seattle, Chicago, London, and even in Vermont--the border up there offers prime time commuting from Canada. (Sorry, Tom, I hope that doesn't impact your sleep up there...).

A "dream team" that enables stretches of sleep long enough to get into the phase for dreaming--it's a perfect metaphor because without one, we are all running on empty and sleep-deprived since the attack on our turf on that fateful day of 11 September 2001. What is not to like about that idea?

And Tom's dream team is more than dream. It's a great well-considered strategy. Let's find someone on this blog who knows how to get the word out to President Bush. Because chances are good that he too would like to assemble a team that would enable him to get some more shut eye too.

Posted by Dr. Pam Brill at December 18, 2004 11:39 AM

What's interesting about all of the individuals who could assume cabinet posts is that all are, indeed, individuals who are primed for a 2008 run. They will all be front and center in the media from whenever they take the post all the way through the 2008 campaign start-up.

Think about the idea of Bernie Kerik in a high-profile cabinet position. A primer for "Vote Rudi Giuliani in 2008"? Plus, the prospect of a Dick Cheney resignation looms, mostly because he is said to not be interested in running for the job of Commander in Chief. If Cheney resigns ("health reasons"?), whoever becomes VP is, for all intent and purpose, an incumbent.

Just some ideas to sleep on...

Posted by Lee H. Igel at December 18, 2004 1:48 PM

IÂ´ve been reading a lot of Tom Peters stuff - knowing his basic themes, I was just wondering: ThereÂ´s no (internet-)woman in that dream team? And no "freak"? Since IÂ´m from Germany, I canÂ´t really judge the persons mentioned, but ... IÂ´m just wondering. Does that mean, one should become "conservative" again - when it comes to danger? Just asking.

Posted by Peter Wallisch at December 19, 2004 12:34 PM

Peter W, great comment. They aren't weird by conventional wierd scale; but they are all weird compared to the Thug Bureaucracies they'd be called upon to break-tame-redirect.

Posted by tom peters at December 19, 2004 9:22 PM