Rats Overboard
Peter Baker of the Washington Post describes a bunch of alligators singing a chorus of “Egrets? I’ve had a few.”
They left for different reasons — new professional opportunities, a gentle or not-so-gentle nudge, young kids, the hope of having young kids — but the cumulative exodus of so many key people at once has transformed the White House as it heads into the dwindling months of the Bush presidency. Rove and Bartlett are gone, and so are their fellow Texans, Harriet E. Miers and Alberto R. Gonzales. Tony Snow, Sara M. Taylor, Rob Portman, J.D. Crouch, Peter D. Feaver, J. Scott Jennings and a host of others have left.
There is so much turnover that on one recent Friday there were four farewell parties or last-day exits. Bush poses for so many Oval Office photos with departing aides it feels like an assembly line. Officials said the transition is a function of so many aides having stayed longer than in past White Houses.
They stayed longer because potential new employers put no faith in the references and performance appraisals provided by their former employer.
Joe Klein’s career advice to former White House director of strategic initiatives, Peter H. Wehner is perfect and should be forwarded to all the rats jumping overboard from the Titanic… after it reached the ocean floor:
“I have two pieces of career advice,” Klein wrote to Wehner. “Stop writing this swill and think about penance. Take some time to clear your head, a lot of time, and pay for your sins by emptying bedpans at Walter Reed.”
Libby Spencer at The Newshoggers notes that Bush’s Brain remains actively involved despite his physical departure. He’s got at least twenty book offers to rewrite The Prince. Rumor has it that Cheney will be writing the book’s intro. This was confirmed when an anonymous Lynne Cheney provided me this advance copy of it.
