Sununu Apologizes for Comparing Poles to Children

BUDAPEST, Hungary — White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu apologized today for comparing Poles to children in a candy store who can’t say no.

“I apologize for the metaphor but I think the point was correct,” he said at a press briefing here, the second stop on President Bush’s 10-day European tour.

Sununu made his original comment Monday in an NBC-TV interview when he said Bush would not “thrust a huge amount of money on the table” to help Poland with its staggering economic problems.

Explaining why substantial funds would be inappropriate, Sununu replied, “Well, the analogy . . . that’s almost appropriate is, you can’t create the problem of a young person in the candy store, where there is so much there that they don’t know which direction to take and don’t have the self-discipline to take the right steps.”