Greenspun

Alan Greenspan is a cowardly old man. Rather than let his opinions be known when he actually had an influence over policy, instead he waited to speak out -- like so many who abetted the Bush/Cheney administration over the past six years -- until he had a book deal.

Though Mr. Greenspan does not admit he made a mistake, he shows remorse about how Republicans jumped on his endorsement of the 2001 tax cuts to push through unconditional cuts without any safeguards against surprises. He recounts how Mr. Rubin and Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota, begged him to hold off on an endorsement because of how it would be perceived.

“It turned out that Conrad and Rubin were right,” he acknowledges glumly. He says Republican leaders in Congress made a grievous error in spending whatever it took to ensure a permanent Republican majority.

Mr. Greenspan has critics as well, and they are likely to weigh in as soon as the book is published. Though he publicly disagreed with Mr. Bush’s supply-side approach to tax cuts, urging Congress to offset the cost with savings elsewhere, he refrained from public criticism that could have shifted the debate. His willingness to criticize now, 18 months after leaving office, may open him to the accusation of failing to speak out when it could have affected policy.

Today, Mr. Greenspan is indignant and chagrined about his role in the Bush tax cuts. “I’d have given the same testimony if Al Gore had been president,” he writes, complaining that his words had been distorted by supporters and opponents of the cuts.

Mr. Greenspan, of course, had been the ultimate Washington insider for years, and knew full well that politicians cited his words selectively to suit their agendas. He was also legendary for ducking delicate issues by, as he once said, “mumbling with great incoherence.”

Of course, any fool -- and Greenspan's not a fool -- knew that had he supported tax cuts during a hypothetical Gore administration, the policy outcome would have been vastly different. Bush campaigned in 2000 promising tax cuts with no real call for spending cuts. Greenspan knew that Bush/Cheney wanted tax cuts and had no concern about deficit spending. That was obvious to everyone at the time.