The annals of Sino-American relations have seen more than a few celebrity-diplomats: Henry Kissinger, a young Richard Holbrooke, and, of course, the current secretary of state. But, unless the record has been lost to history, none has ascended to this rarefied plane of geopolitics while running the Office of Management and Budget.
And yet, there was budget director Peter Orszag rushing to a lunch with Chinese bureaucrats on a Monday in late July. To his surprise, when Orszag arrived at the site of the annual U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), the Chinese didn't dwell on the Wall Street meltdown or the global recession. The bureaucrats at his table mostly wanted to know about health care reform, which Orszag has helped shepherd. "They were intrigued by the most recent legislative developments," Orszag says. "It was like, 'You're fresh from the field, what can you tell us?' "
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