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Core of White House staff largely intact
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-30 22:00
There will no doubt be a few departures, as people give in to fatigue or the
temptation of the high-paying private sector. A small group may head out closer
to spring, before campaigning for the November congressional elections begins in
earnest. But most expect any larger exodus to wait until after those elections.
Card has held his post longer than anyone in half a century and recently said
he was "ready, willing and able" to make a change, even as he tamped out the
rumor he was assuming Treasury Secretary John Snow's job. It is telling that
those considered contenders to succeed Card are other Bush inner circle-types:
Hughes, Bolten, former commerce secretary and close Bush friend Don Evans, and
Marc Racicot, chairman of Bush's 2004 re-election campaign.
Cheney and Rove, meanwhile, both the subject of speculation they might be on
the outs because of their connections to the CIA leak case, have received hearty
public endorsements from Bush.
There was never much evidence that the president intended a major
housecleaning.
Mostly, the White House was banking on good news and a rejuvenated agenda for
2006 to help lift them out of difficult days.
And there are signs they've made some progress. Bush's still-low poll numbers
have improved in the wake of an aggressive defense of his Iraq policies and
high-profile attention to the revived economy.
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