Peter H. Wehner
Peter H. "Pete" Wehner served until March 2007 as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Strategic Initiatives,[1] running "the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives (or the Office of Strategery, as it is known inside the building after a 'Saturday Night Live' skit spoofing the president's mangling of the English language)."[2]
"Bush speechwriter Peter Wehner worked for William Kristol when he was chief of staff to then-Education Secretary William J. Bennett."[3]
Contents
Profiles
Wehner was Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director, Speechwriting during the first administration of President George W. Bush.[4]
Wehner left the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) "to join the staff of William Bennett, and he stayed with Bennett for a good many years after that."[5]
Wehner's writings
In the September 6, 2000, article "Is this any way to win?", Mona Charen wrote: "If Bush wants to put his millions to good use, he need go no further than Mr. Peter Wehner of Empower America, Bill Bennett's colleague and collaborator. Wehner has kept [an Al Gore] file that can fill 50 television ads with damaging reminders of the vice president's past."[6]
In 2000, "dedicated Christian" Wehner's "writings on religion and politics [had] pushed Christian conservatives to ponder whether they're in danger of pushing conservatism while leaving Christ behind. In one widely circulated essay, he wrote a C.S. Lewis-style Screw tape letter[7] describing how the devil's tempters could spoil Christians with political passions."[8]
Wehner "helped script another often-praised Bush speech, his brief seven-minute address at the National Cathedral for the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance just three days after the terrorist attacks. The president comforted the assembled, in the church and across the nation, with the goodness of God: 'This world He created is of moral design. Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. Goodness, remembrance, and love have no end.'
"William Bennett is not shy in praising his former aide: 'I've met a lot of people, famous and not famous. He is the single most impressive human being I've ever met.' But Mr. Bennett says the real secret of the Bush speechwriters' recent success is that they've found the president's own voice, that they've given voice to his thoughts: 'Pete has been my brain. I'm not embarrassed to admit it.'"[8]
Publications
- "Promise or peril, the Strategic Defense Initiative: Thirty-five essays by statesmen, scholars, and strategic analysts" (Hardcover), Ethics and Public Policy Center, June 1, 1986, ISBN 0896331032. Editors: Peter H. Wehner, Rick Sincere, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Marin Strmecki.
Resources
Also see
References
- ↑ Peter Baker, "Policy Aide's Departure Continues Transformation of Bush's Staff," Washington Post, March 30, 2007.
- ↑ Dan Balz, "Resident Thinker Given Free Rein In White House: Official Promotes Role of Ideas in Politics," Washington Post, December 13, 2004.
- ↑ Dana Milbank, "'Bush's Blunder' May Be Kristol's Inside Influence," Washington Post, March 19, 2002.
- ↑ "The Right-Wing Affiliations of Bush Administration Officials: White House Staff," People for the American Way, accessed September 5, 2007.
- ↑ Rick Sincee, "White House 'Strategery' Chief," Rick Sincere's Thoughts Blogspot, December 18, 2004.
- ↑ Mona Charen, "Is this any way to win?" Townhall.com, September 6, 2000.
- ↑ Peter Wehner, Excerpt: "A Screwtape Letter for the Twenty-first Century. What a senior devil might think about religion and politics," Beliefnet, 2000.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 January 2002 World Magazine article no longer available.
External links
- Michael A. Hiltzik, "Undoing the New Deal," Los Angeles Times, June 26, 2005: "The Social Security 'crisis' began on cue as George W. Bush started his second term. That was no accident. A new book explores the unseen people and unspoken philosophy behind what could be a long and difficult campaign."
