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Core of White House staff largely intact
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-30 22:00
And the lack of change has contributed to criticism of Bush as governing from
inside a bubble that isolates him from smart dissent, healthy competition, fresh
ideas and bad news.
"If people stay that long, group-think can set in, and that's dangerous for a
president," Gergen said.
"He's surrounded by people who agree with him," said Light.
Bartlett disputed the notion that Bush is out of touch. "The people around
the president are humble enough to not think that we know everything," he said.
"We do reach out to people outside."
That view is not widely shared, said Gergen: "This is a team that may ask you
questions but doesn't necessarily listen to the answers."
Such criticism grew louder through the fall. A CIA leak case that resulted in
the indictment of a top Cheney aide capped a period in which opposition to the
Iraq war mounted, Miers' nomination to the Supreme Court imploded, gas prices
hit record highs and Hurricane Katrina exposed governmental ineptitude. With
Bush's poll numbers hovering at record lows, advisers within and outside a
usually tightlipped White House began saying that a wholesale change in his
staff was crucial to charting a comeback.
Those calls are hardly heard these days. Now observers predict the first of
the year will bring no orchestrated shakeup.
"I don't expect a lot that are forced by the president,"
said Norm Ornstein, a resident scholar with the American Enterprise Institute.
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