White House insider speaks to Rotary Club

"You're dealing with real problems, for starters," he said. "We don't have that day-to-day drama that makes for good television."

After Barrales' speech outlining how he arrived at the job and Bush's agenda, he found himself fending off White House policy questions from Foster City Councilman Marland Townsend and Mayor Rick Wykoff.

Townsend, who was an oil executive for 14 years in Saudi Arabia, said Bush is not getting the best advice on the Middle East.

"Religion drives everything there," he said. Townsend asked if Shia Muslims win the election will the United States leave the country quicker. Barrales said it was unlikely. Iraqis, he said, "want the troops out as much as we do, but they also want security."

Barrales fielded many questions on Iraq and said he never tires of talking politics. "I love it," he said.

The son of Mexican immigrants, Barrales was raised in Redwood City and worked in his family's roofing business. He was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1992 as the board's first Hispanic and one of its youngest members at 29.

He served on the board until 1998, when he ran as a Republican in an unsuccessful bid for state controller. Barrales then took the reins of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm and, through a mutual friend, met Bush political strategist Karl Rove and then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

Driving down Interstate 280 one day, Barrales got a call with an offer to be the Director of Intergovernmental Affairs in the White House.

Barrales accepted, then asked what intergovernmental affairs meant.

He moved his wife and two children to Arlington Va., and for the last four years has been the president's liaison to state and local governments.

Barrales wakes each day before 6 a.m. and said in his first years often ran to catch the last subway train home at midnight. His job is made easier, he said, because he knows exactly what he needs to do every morning when he enters the White House gates.

Barrales touched on Bush's ambitious agenda for the next four years, taking on social security funding, litigation reform, tax simplification, Medicaid reform and the war on terror.

"He is incredibly smart, he does his homework," Barrales said of Bush. "He will actually look at problems and decide and move on it even if it's against public opinion at that time, or conventional wisdom," he said.

"He's strong, smart and principled," he added. "That doesn't usually get out in the media."

Stephen Baxter can be reached by e-mail at stephen@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 109. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.