In an administration replete with “yes”-men, what President Bush could use now is a good “no”-man.
The shakeup that began with the resignation of White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and his replacement by budget Director Joshua Bolton was more a lateral ripple than the required bolt of lightning for an administration in trouble.
Bolten?s own first move, tapping U.S. Trade Rep. Rob Portman, a former member of the Republican leadership in the House, is more of the same as a solid member of the existing Bush team.
On Bolten?s first day in Card?s old chair, he promised a “fresh start” in response to a growing clamor for just that from Republicans on Capitol Hill. But to make it, he needs to recruit figures with reputations for independence and candor of the sort sorely missing.
Bush himself passed up the most obvious opportunity to demonstrate bold action, by firing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to recover from the second-term malaise that has hit his presidency. Instead, he forcefully reiterated his support.
No action would have conveyed a clearer message of change because the administration?s No. 1 problem is indisputably the mess in Iraq, of which Rumsfeld was, and remains, the principal military architect.
But the late-blooming revolt of the retired generals calling for Rumsfeld?s scalp only drove this president who marches to his own drummer to dig in, and to acquiesce in, if not dictate, a Pentagon counterattack. A statement from the puzzle palace noting there are thousands of generals who stand by Rumsfeld conveyed the message that the critics are a mere noisy minority.
The strongest political voice in the White House, Karl Rove, remains entrenched as Bush?s political compass in an administration ensnarled in a radical foreign policy that pays lip service to collective security, but continues to follow its own course.
After a first term driven by a muscular response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that boosted the president?s popularity and effectively muzzled most political opposition, the Iraq fiasco has stripped the second term of any persuasive agenda or convincing direction.
The president?s political capital accumulated in his 2004 re-election was squandered all last year in his failed meddling with Social Security, and is being dissipated again with a limp effort to sell so-called health savings accounts. Both are transparent attempts to advance Bush?s concept of an “ownership society” that most Americans have not bought into.
Within Bush?s party, there are some notable “no”-men, such as Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska on the administration?s conduct of the war and Sen. John McCain on campaign financing, environmental issues and others, even as McCain labors to reassure conservative Republicans as he eyes the 2008 GOP presidential nomination.
But except for Rove, who is perceived to be in ideological lockstep with Bush across the board, there is nobody in the administration who seems to have the clout to say “no” to him when the road gets rocky and he needs a devil?s advocate.
Such figures pragmatic more than ideological who are hard to come by, and not often welcome, because presidents enjoy their power and draw sycophants like bees to honey. This president?s father had one of the best in James A. Baker, who also served as a no-man for Ronald Reagan. Another effective one in Republican ranks was Richard Nixon?s fearsome chief of staff, Bob Haldeman.
On the Democratic side, Lawrence O?Brien played the role with great influence for Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. And Kennedy also used his brother Robert as a critical sounding board.
Such figures usually have the rare stature of being the closest thing to an equal in political experience and wisdom to the presidents they serve. And they usually are not beholden to them for their political prominence or advancement, while often benefiting from the connection.
Rove has achieved the stature as a political mastermind of a Baker or an O?Brien, but seems more ideologically committed than either was. Whether at this stage he can become an effective “no”-man in an administration crying out for one is an intriguing question.
Jules Witcover, a Baltimore Examiner columnist, is syndicated by Tribune Media Services. He has covered national affairs from Washington for more than 50 years and is the author of 11 books, and co-author of five others, on American politics and history.
