Politics / Peter Orszag Orszag: I Never Wanted White House Gig Former budget director bemoans 'drama' By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff Posted Apr 10, 2011 11:15 AM CDT Copied Then-OMB Director Peter Orszag speaks July 28, 2010 at the Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium in Washington, DC. AFP PHOTO/Karen BLEIER (Getty Images) “Sexy nerd” Peter Orszag left his White House gig as President Obama’s budget director last June, but it turns out he never actually wanted the job. In a New York piece picked up by the Post, Orszag tells the magazine that he feared the “all-consuming” “infighting” that is inevitable in the White House. “Many of my mentors warned me that despite the 'no-drama' Obama campaign, once in office, this White House would inevitably be like others—and possibly worse. And unfortunately that's exactly what happened.” (More Peter Orszag stories.) Report an error