Obama’s Man on the Budget: Just 40 and Going Like 60 (Peter Orszag)

[babylonsister]

Obama’s Man on the Budget: Just 40 and Going Like 60

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

After a 35-minute run followed by a quick shower, Peter R. Orszag, the 40-year-old White House budget director, is off on his early-morning commute to work. More Photos >


By JODI KANTOR
Published: March 27, 2009


WASHINGTON — At 6 in the morning, Peter R. Orszag is racing: across wet pavement for a 35-minute run, into a shower and a suit, and through a living room that looks rather like an office, the walls painted presidential gold and hung with pictures of federal monuments.

As he heads to his job as White House budget director, he already seems to pulse with energy, but he asks his driver to stop at Starbucks for enormous doses of iced and hot tea. His epic caffeine intake concerned him until he solved the problem with typical Orszagian efficiency: he underwent genetic testing, confirmed that he could safely metabolize large amounts and happily moved on to the next worry.

Mr. Orszag is the youngest member of President Obama’s team holding cabinet rank, a 40-year-old with what colleagues call a graybeard’s knowledge of how the government spends money. But he has little interest in merely keeping fiscal house.

His animating passions are far grander — health care, energy policy and Social Security overhaul, for starters. Everything about the way he has interpreted his new job speaks of ambition: the policy heavyweights he has hired for the Office of Management and Budget, his efforts to persuade cabinet secretaries to let him help shape their plans, a public profile as high as that of any budget director since David A. Stockman’s polarizing tenure under Ronald Reagan a quarter-century ago.

“When people are saying this is not how O.M.B. has done things before, I’ve been shrugging my shoulders and saying this is not your father’s O.M.B.,” he said in a recent interview in his office, where a direct phone line to the president was just installed. (He has not yet dared press the little blue button.)

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/us/politics/28orszag.html?_r=2&hp

[Thrill]

1. "He's made nerdy sexy," said Rahm Emanuel

[Jennicut]

7. He is the sexiest nerd ever.

Seriously, Orz is really cool and pushing for a good agenda.

[firedupdem]

2. Nice Article. Smart person! I kept calling him a smart kid and

then realized I'm only 2 yrs older. I love articles like this that give an insight into the day and all they deal with.

[Aloha Spirit]

3. "..sometimes startling colleagues by appearing in their offices at day’s end in head-to-toe spandex"

lol

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

4. I'm 40 and now depressed, thanks!

Folks like this with all of their brains make me sick I tell you!

[Cha]

5. Peter Orszag is one to

watch. I know I feel better knowing he's working on all these challenges the new admin has on their enormous plate.

I'm wondering how he can eat the same thing everyday, though? Boring. But, I guess some peeps don't need variety on their menu.

[specimenfred1984]

6. He underwent genetic testing to see if he could handle coffee?

How much did that cost? Oh yeah, it didn't cost him anything, it cost us a lot however.

[babylonsister]

8. Got a link for when he had the testing done? nt