Decision Points

you should feel free to run for reelection with someone else. No hard feelings.” I asked about his health. He said his heart was fine. He just thought I should have the option to refashion the ticket. His offer impressed me. It was so atypical in power-hungry Washington. It confirmed the reasons I’d picked Dick in the first place.
    I did consider his offer. I talked to Andy, Karl, and a few others about the possibility of asking Bill Frist , the impressive Tennessee senator who had become majority leader, to run with me instead. We all expected 2004 to bring another close election. While Dick helped with importantparts of our base, he had become a lightning rod for criticism from the media and the left. He was seen as dark and heartless—the Darth Vader of the administration. Dick didn’t care much about his image—which I liked—but that allowed the caricatures to stick. One myth was that Dick was actually running the White House. Everyone inside the building, including the vice president, knew that was not true. But the impression was out there. Accepting Dick’s offer would be one way to demonstrate that I was in charge.
    The more I thought about it, the more strongly I felt Dick should stay. I hadn’t picked him to be a political asset; I had chosen him to help me do the job. That was exactly what he had done. He accepted any assignment I asked. He gave me his unvarnished opinions. He understood that I made the final decisions. When we disagreed, he kept our differences private. Most important, I trusted Dick. I valued his steadiness. I enjoyed being around him. And he had become a good friend. At one of our lunches a few weeks later, I asked Dick to stay, and he agreed.

    As the 2004 election approached, I grew concerned about the growing discord within the national security team. In most administrations, there is natural friction between the diplomats at State and the warriors at Defense. Secretary of State George Shultz and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger famously battled throughout the Reagan administration. President Ford replaced Defense Secretary James Schlesinger largely because he couldn’t get along with Henry Kissinger. I didn’t mind some creative tension in the organization. Differences of opinion among advisers helped clarify tough decisions. The key was that disagreements had to be aired respectfully, and my decisions had to be accepted as final.
    After the successful liberation of Afghanistan, the territorial squabbles between State and Defense seemed tolerable. But when the debate over Iraq intensified, high-level officials within the respective departments started sniping at each other viciously. Colin and Don were always respectful to each other in my presence. Over time I realized they were like a pair of old duelers who kept their own pistols in their holsters, but let their seconds and thirds fire away.
    A memorable example came during one of Don Rumsfeld’s televised press briefings, which he had been holding almost daily since the war in Afghanistan started. Don’s handling of the press was fun to watch. He was an expert at parrying reporters’ questions, and he jousted with exuberance and flair. I liked to tease him about his stardom in the early-afternoon TV slot. “You’re a matinee idol for the over-sixty crowd,” I told him. He took the ribbing in stride.
    In January 2003, a Dutch television reporter asked Don why America’s European allies were not more supportive of our calls to hold Saddam Hussein to account. “You’re thinking of Europe as Germany and France,” Don said. “I don’t. I think that’s old Europe.”
    I agreed with Don’s point. The new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe understood the nightmare of tyranny firsthand and supported action against Saddam Hussein. But that sensible argument is not what made the news. Don’s characterization of Germany and France as “old Europe” ignited a wave of protest.
    Colin was furious. He was trying to persuade the Germans and French to join our cause at the United Nations, and he felt Don had crossed into his lane in a way that complicated his diplomatic mission. His subordinates clearly felt the same way. Policy disputes that once took place behind closed doors started spilling out in the press.
    It irritated me to read headlines like “A White House Divided: The Bush Administration’s Civil War” and “Bush’s Next Role: Mediator in Disputes over Running Postwar Iraq.” I