[Mb-civic] White House Shifts Into Survival Mode - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

White House Shifts Into Survival Mode

By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 20, 2006; A01

In a White House known for both defiance and optimism, yesterday's 
senior staff changes represent a frank acknowledgment of the trouble in 
which President Bush now finds himself. They are also a signal of how 
starkly Bush's second-term ambitions have shifted after a year of 
persistent problems at home and abroad.

Longtime Bush confidant Karl Rove -- who had hoped to use his position 
of deputy chief of staff to usher in an expansive conservative agenda -- 
was relieved of his policy portfolio to concentrate on long-term 
strategy and planning for a November midterm election that looks 
increasingly bleak for Republicans.

Rove probably will remain one of the most influential voices in the 
White House, but his shift in responsibilities suggests that new White 
House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten intends to operate a different 
White House than his predecessor, Andrew H. Card Jr., who resigned after 
more than five years at the helm.

Bolten's White House, say former administration officials and Republican 
strategists, is likely to have clearer lines of authority and less 
free-lancing by powerful officials. They also expect Bolten to play a 
more active and influential role in shaping domestic policy than did Card.

More significantly, they said, unlike Card, who took as his principal 
responsibility the management of the president, Bolten probably will 
operate more in the mold of chiefs of staffs in previous 
administrations, who saw their role as managing the entire White House 
and sought to oversee the entire federal government, as well.

Whether the changes will fundamentally alter a troubled administration 
is another question. One of Bolten's biggest challenges, administration 
allies say, will be to find ways to open up the Oval Office to new ideas 
and to the opinions of people who are not longtime Bush confidants.

On that score, many people who know the administration best are 
privately dubious. Presidents, more than chiefs of staff, determine how 
White Houses operate, they said, noting that Bush has shown that he 
prefers a tight circle of advisers and does not welcome the advice of 
outsiders. As Bush put it on Monday, in asserting that he would not fire 
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, "I'm the decider, and I decide 
what's best."

Rove's return to a role that closely mirrors that which he played in 
Bush's first term demonstrates how much this White House has now shifted 
to survival mode -- and how far events have pushed the president from 
the grand ambitions with which he opened his second term just 15 months ago.

Then, with Rove as the animating force, the president sought to engineer 
Republican political dominance by remaking government with such 
far-reaching initiatives as his plan to remake the Social Security 
program. Today, Social Security stands as Exhibit A of what went wrong 
domestically in 2005.

Public disillusionment over Bush's policies in Iraq have left the 
country in a sour mood and Bush's presidency at low ebb, threatening the 
entire Bush-Rove project to create a durable Republican majority. While 
that goal remains central to those closest to Bush, the focus at the 
White House for the foreseeable future will be trying to revitalize this 
presidency quickly enough to avoid crippling GOP losses in November that 
could thrust Bush into instant lame-duck status.

Realigning the White House staff and bringing in new faces appear 
central to that effort. This week's changes include yesterday's 
resignation of White House press secretary Scott McClellan and 
appointment of Joel D. Kaplan as White House deputy chief of staff for 
policy, as well as Monday's announcement that U.S. trade representative 
and former House member Rob Portman will succeed Bolten as director of 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The domestic policy process has been hampered since Bolten went to OMB, 
and one Republican strategist close to the White House said the new 
chief of staff appears bent on trying to prevent Rove and others from 
interfering in every aspect of the governing process.

Rove will retain the "gravitational force" of his Bush relationship and 
could "overpower" Bolten in showdowns because he knows the president and 
the inside game better, this official predicted. But he added that 
Bolten believed that the strategy to overhaul Social Security was sloppy 
and hampered by Rove's becoming too involved in every aspect of the 
campaign -- policy, politics and communications.

Former administration officials said that Rove, though known for his 
ability to juggle many roles, was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of his 
responsibilities when he was promoted to deputy chief of staff after the 
2004 election.

In addition, he was engulfed in the CIA leak case. He is believed to be 
under investigation by a special counsel for providing false testimony 
about his role.

Bolten and Rove forged a congenial working relationship during Bush's 
first presidential campaign, when Rove was chief strategist and Bolten 
chief policy adviser. That carried over into the White House during the 
first term, until Bolten departed as deputy chief of staff to take over 
as OMB director. Administration allies say they hope that the new 
assignments can restore an operating arrangement that they believe 
worked well.

One former administration official, who asked not to be identified in 
order to speak freely about his former colleagues, called yesterday's 
shift in Rove's responsibilities a "huge" development. "This is putting 
back things where they belong," he said. "It's given Josh back policy. 
Joel [Kaplan] is a total Josh disciple, and he is very good in the 
policy world. It focuses Karl back on politics, which is what he needs 
to do."

But former Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said Rove's losing the policy 
portfolio also is significant, because the policy job "is where ideas 
comes from, where creativity comes from, and that is where presidents 
rise and fall."

"I think this is another building block in bringing in other voices to 
reenergize and reinvigorate the West Wing," said Kenneth Duberstein, 
White House chief of staff to president Ronald Reagan, who predicted 
Rove will remain one of Bush's most trusted aides.

Despite his power, Rove has not been immune to criticism. Inside the 
White House, some aides were unhappy that he had sent McClellan out to 
say inaccurately that Rove had no involvement in the CIA leak case. 
Outside allies feared that Rove was so invested in the policies he had 
helped to shape and sell to Bush that he lost his ability to see where 
the administration had gotten off track.

Mindful that Rove's changed responsibilities might be seen as a 
demotion, administration officials and allies offered a counterview, 
saying that, given his personal relationship with the president, he will 
continue to exercise wide influence on policy and politics while having 
new freedom to think more strategically about the administration.

Other changes are expected at the White House and perhaps in Bush's 
Cabinet. One will be a replacement for McClellan; another is likely to 
be a new domestic policy adviser. Criticisms of the legislative affairs 
and communications operations as well as the national economic council 
suggest the potential scope of changes. But one of the most important 
steps came yesterday. As one strategist who has worked closely with the 
administration put it, "I don't know how you change the White House 
without changing Karl's role."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/19/AR2006041902517.html?referrer=email
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