Friday, September 23, 2005

Had very interesting and enjoyable evening at a reception at the home of Mark and Nicole Wallace in honor of Kristin Silverberg in celebration of her confirmation (a couple of months ago) as Assistant Secretary for International organizations in DoS as well as her birthday. Present among many others were a number of White House personnel such as Michael Gerson, Josh Bolten, Michael Allen, Randy Tobias (DoS), etc. Interesting part of the evening were the in depth and intense discussions that I had with Josh Bolten and Mike Gerson about the difficulties in funding the POTUS’s planned programs over the next few years given the fact that Hurricane Katrina will cost over $100 Billion and Hurricane Rita is still percolating in the Gulf of Mexico. Important dilemmas – Do you let the deficit explode? Do you cut domestic programs (difficult to do since the amount would be trivial compared to what is needed)? Do you defund the war in Iraq (impossible)? Do you abandon all or (as I suggested) part of the Tax Cut program? Very enjoyable and interesting evening. The Wallace’s live on 4434 – Hawthorne Street, which is 2 blocks from my house. Christine Grady accompanied me.