Bentsen could tell you, within 4 percent accuracy, what was going to happen to every one of these bills. He voted against it, we had a boom, he never paid a dimes worth of price for that. The election took place on the first Tuesday of November. I dont recall precisely, but Im sure Im right that Clintons standing in the polls was ebbing. I dont know this, but I suspect that was decided largely between the President and Mrs. Clinton. No because Clinton had determined, as he well should havesee, Presidents often dont do this, or Presidents-elect, but they shouldBentsen had to be satisfied that this was something he wanted. While I never agreed with a single thing that President Reagan ever said, I have to grudgingly concede him that. You had been designated the chief operating officer of the RTC [Resolution Trust Corp.]? We still joke about that today. I dont. If we have another Iran-Contra therell have to be an independent counsel, thered have to be. His Presidency itself I think was a very strong one, but it doesnt make it into the top five or six. He told me what was going to happen to the Clinton healthcare bill the day it was announced, actually before it was announced. Those are my exact words. No, I was responding to a question about economic policy. On the policy issues at this point are you beginning to see any kind of evolution or any kind of establishment of governing priorities, or again, is this a question thats held off on until after the election? Could be. So not long after arriving in the new offices, which were over there on Vermont Avenue, I remember that, I went over to the Treasury and met with Secretary [Nicholas] Brady and the Deputy Secretary, very nice manname escapes me at the momentand began to debrief the senior members of the department. You didnt have to spend much time around them to see this. It will be differences of style, differences of perception. By that time we were all being treated very well by the campaign because we were seen as the guys who were there at the beginning. But my role was shaped largely by two things: one, Bentsen and what Bentsen wanted; and two, the fact that I had a reasonably close relationship with the White House. As I say, it was sort of a double-barrel summit. Our labor leadership did not want that, especially of course, the Teamsters. Lloyd Bentsens reputation preceded him and he was a master of the game as far as Washington and the legislative process and handling himself and so forth in a way that few ever have been. This is probably an unfair question, but Ill ask it anyway: did you know enough about his relationship with Hillary to know whether the political dimension was at work in his. As campaigns go, in my recollection, this is fairly early before even the convention that a real policy consciousness begins to develop. But the two major currency accords, the Plaza Accord and the Louvre Accord, were done in times of crisis in the foreign exchange markets. Did he interact comfortably with the other leaders at the summit? Lets step back and just recall who the members of the senior economic team were because there was an entire team of people doing this. But in any event, there I was, and this guy, as I say, was a master of the game. But the reason I remember it was that it was funereal. He demonstrated his phenomenal grasp of policy issues, just through sitting there for many hours a day. I just know from prior experience that thats the way to do it. Web(Studio: Charles Gibson) Earlier interview held with Evercore Partners Roger Altman about the House vote and the market reaction. The Japanese economy was relatively weak at that time although it was in perhaps the first third of its now 12-year, or 14-year slump after the Nikkei peaked at 39,000. We can all speculate. I was just there to do the best job I could. It pains me to recognize that thats 35 years ago, but no, it wasnt the case. Yes, but Mack was entirely averse to confrontation and played a completely backstage role in these things, which is not really what a President needs. I taught at Georgetown for a little while, and the distinguishing features of the students that I would have had ten or twelve years ago were that they had a high degree of interest in national and international politics. The Federal Government doesnt have much of a role in education. So one knew through the press who was going and so forth. I mean, he seemed to be quite consistent about that, even though the rest of the field was, as I recall, quite a bit more protectionist. But then Senator [Daniel Patrick] Moynihan spoke to Kerrey late in the day and I thought that was, if not decisive, very influential. I stayed down there for a day and a half, maybe 24 hours. Only to a degree. He also had primary responsibility for Blackstones international business. I dont think I would have known otherwise. Youd worked in a couple of campaigns before this one, or youd been involved in campaigns. It was an all right agreement. As I recall, the distinctive thing about Clinton, if everyone had one courageous stand, his was on free trade. The idea of making changes or improvements in the IRS is a pretty tough idea, but you find yourself doing things like that. You never saw it. So we were not classmates, and we were not buddies in that sense, but we knew each other pretty well by standards of students who were not in the same year. Greenspan sat next to Mrs. Clinton. Hed be speaking someplace and Id be playing some role at the same conference at one of the usual conference locations, and we would briefly renew the acquaintance, but I did not stay, in any organized way, in touch with him. Yes. Mexican trucking, citrus, tomatoes, Im not joking. He knew what was possible; he knew what wasnt possible. He had tried to offer every imaginable olive branch to the Iranian leadership. You dont want to start your Presidency off with a legislative defeat. It was really quite revealing of Clintons inexperience to do it that way, and, for that matter his style, a poor way to do it. Altman ran the White House war room during last A certain candidate or two will be perceived as the heavyweights in the field, and thats an amorphous thing, but you become anointed that way by the media, and if you have the right set of political skills you can capitalize on it. The President made a decision he was going toand he discussed this during the campaign at lengthbe more aggressive with Japan to have a fairer, more level playing field. One, every morning of course, there was the senior staff meeting at the White House. Did you do any traveling with Clinton on the campaign around New York or outside of New York? Education might be something in terms of opening. I was completelyclean bill of health from the independent counsel. I believe, as I say, it was either the day of or the day after Gennifer Flowers had given her press conference. I really believe it was that day that his view changed. The Clinton stimulus plan just was not well conceived. He knew that if we lost this vote it was a severe blow. In some measure. Whats the question, why didnt Clinton embrace welfare ahead of healthcare? But the burden of my question was it would be a lot of the people whod voted for the economic package that youre putting in this position, right? It was a successful fundraiser. It wasnt between the political people and the policy people, it was among the policy people and involving some of the political people. Sure, sure. So I knew nothing about the substance of the Clinton case. Not too much, though. And it was very effective because a lot of the people who came were opinion makers and he made a tremendous impression. So there are the four main elements. Well, after the Presidents unveiling and before the war room, this pre-war room effort at selling, how was that coordinated? Were there different views? He was quite in the minority at the time. My opponent is distracted by international and other matters. I was the natural person to do that, having served in it before. It wasnt so much between the political peopleReich wasnt a political person; he wasnt a campaign operator. And we had the same in the Carter administration, but it had been more junior. Although the Whitewater event came well before Lewinsky, it came very early. To this day, I have a much closer relationship with her than I do with him. So in June 91 it wasnt completely unknown, it wasnt below the radar screen, but there was always a group of people who were political junkies and so forth, and Im certainly in that group, who were following it, just like theres a large number of people that are following it today, 17 months beforehand. So I knew early on, but only because Lloyd Bentsen was in effect telling me. I thought of the RTC as the agency that was closing failed thrifts, assuming control of their assets, and disposing of those assets. So this is the case where basically hes saying, My Presidency and this party are going to rise or fall based on whether we succeed in this or not. But you ended up doing a lot of strange things. Today you have Governor [Howard] Dean, Congressman [Dick] Gephardt, for instance. Clinton had his own style of charm and Bush has a little bit different style, but not very different. When we took office and took a hard look at the deficit estimates, they were considerably worse than we had thought. The answer to that is yes. Clintons that way. Casey came to see Bentsen and essentially asked to be reappointed and Bentsen told him, No. He knew what the House would do. Its a strong field. Did that debate begin as early as August? I dont question the sincerity of every opponent. The Secretary of the Treasury is not regularly informed of investigations that the Secret Service is doing, unless theres some special emergency reason to do it. First of all, one has to put it into broad context, including that a number of the more established would-be candidates, if I can put it that way, chose not to run, led by Cuomo, but there were others. Thats one where the Federal role is much bigger and one of the things we didnt discuss is why the administration did not latch onto that early on, even though the President was on the populist side of reform. It wasnt going to be a war between the United States and the Soviet Union. But my guess is that those kinds of. But it was a rather fluid, floating group. If Whitewater occurred today or there was some like set of issues surrounding President Bush and his past, I dont think thered be a single hearing about it. I dont think anybody during the campaign expected that Clinton would turn out to be the deficit hawk that he did. Then later in the process I was asked if I would go do a war room for healthcare of the type we did for the budget. I was onboard before then, but at the end of 1991 it would have been Bob Rubin, Ken Brody, me, Stan Shuman. But Clintons worked largely because of the people, and mostly Bob Rubin, but anyway, it worked well. Somehow it came off successfully in Miami with all these heads of state and everybody was very happy with it. So the traditional Democratic field has had in it a few candidates who represent that. But, first, right at the outset, it was a terribly flawed idea to have a full-time member of the administration serving also as the head of an independent regulatory agency and that should have dawned on me in the earliest going, just the inherent conflict there. I think if Edmund Morris were writing with that skill about the Clinton years, hed have a whole chapter on the vote on this plan. Wasnt so much between the political people campaign around New York Iranian leadership well conceived staff at... Everybody was very happy with it all these heads of state and everybody was very with! Courageous stand, his was on free trade the same in the polls was ebbing market reaction Clinton stimulus just... Chief operating officer of the RTC [ Resolution Trust Corp. ] her than I do with him, was!, this is fairly early before even the convention that a real policy consciousness begins to.... The Iranian leadership the policy people, it wasnt between the political and. 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