Salazar on executive position, disses Cheney and White House

Interior Secretary Salazar tells the Rocky Mountain News he's more executive than legislative:

"I am much more comfortable being in an executive position than in dealing with the very slow, deliberative processes of the U.S. Senate," Salazar said in his first sit-down interview since joining President Barack Obama's cabinet last week. He said he respects the institution of the Senate. "And I dearly love my fellow senators, both Democrat and Republican," he said. "But it is a slow process in terms of getting things across the finish line and having an impact on humanity in a positive way."

Salazar says DOI was run out of the White House and blames Cheney:

Salazar blames the highest levels of the White House, specifically former Vice President Dick Cheney's "rifle-shot agenda" to "drill under every rock" for creating some of the culture in the department he now wants to change. "I think the door was opened to the special interests," Salazar said. "And I think that's what created many of the problems." "I think this department was very much run out of the White House, as opposed to having a strong Secretary of Interior who developed a strong mission for the Interior Department and then executed that mission," he said.