Editorial: A move signifying nothing

Wednesday, March 29, 2006 | 7:14 a.m.

Republicans worried about their vulnerability in the midterm elections have for weeks been suggesting that a White House staff shake-up would boost their chances. President Bush capitulated Saturday in accepting the resignation offer of his chief of staff, Andrew Card. After Bush announced his decision Tuesday, White House press secretary Scott McClellan did not rule out other staff changes.

The choice of Card as the first to go is as questionable as many of the other decisions Bush has made during his administration. Card has rarely, if ever, been portrayed as anyone but a hard-working, intelligent and efficient administrator. Key policy decisions in the Bush administration have been much more widely associated with Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove.

Accepting Rove's resignation, or the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would have signaled a much more earnest attempt by Bush to acquire fresh perspectives and energize his presidency, which is sinking in the polls because of widespread dissatisfaction with both his domestic and foreign initiatives.

If Bush intended Card's departure, scheduled for April 14, as a signal to the country of a bold change, it will be a very weak signal considering that he chose Joshua Bolten as Card's replacement.

Bolten, an economist, has been a Bush protege for the past six years, starting out as an adviser when Bush was still governor of Texas. After assisting on Bush's presidential campaign, he was named a deputy chief of staff and helped devise the tax cuts for the wealthy. He also worked on the Medicare prescription drug plan, which is over budget by an estimated $287 billion.

As director of the federal budget for the past three years, Bolten has played a leading role in creating the nation's record deficit, which exceeds $400 billion.

Bush's polls are sinking because voters do not like his policies, with or without Andrew Card. As Bolten is an aggressive promoter of the Bush policies, Tuesday's announcement, taken alone, changes nothing.