It’s inevitable: Whenever a president runs into trouble, the Washington establishment counsels him to hire one of their own. In 2005, as the fallout from Hurricane Katrina, the Fitzgerald probe, and a worsening situation in Iraq harmed the Bush presidency, Republican fixers David Gergen and Ken Duberstein urged the president to fire Karl Rove, apologize for his mistakes, and move toward the Democrats. (Read Fred Barnes’s coverage at the time here.) Replacing Rove with someone like Gergen, it was said, would signal a new willingness to compromise in the Bush White House. Bush didn’t listen, of course. He ignored the establishment’s advice in 2005 and 2006 and adopted the surge strategy in Iraq instead.
Now President Obama is in trouble, thanks to a sluggish economy and unpopular policies. The establishment’s advice? Hire Ken Duberstein! Some things never change. Here’s WSJ columnist Gerald Seib:
