EPA Director Christine Todd Whitman cracked up journalists and politicians at Washington's annual Gridiron Dinner when the former governor of New Jersey joked to the crowd, "I used to be someone," according to a report in Newsweek magazine. She went on to talk about the "folding chair in the corner" she has at cabinet meetings, and the huge number of hits that turn up on an Internet search using the words "Whitman" and "overruled."
Whitman reportedly enjoys good relations with the White House and took the EPA job knowing the limitations but still believing she could make a difference, according to the Newsweek story.