Andrew Card Resigns as White House Chief of Staff

U.S. President George W. Bush (C) announces the resignation of his Chief of Staff Andrew Card (L) and names Josh Bolten (R) as Card's replacement, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington March 28, 2006. Bolten was announced on Tuesday to replace long-term Chief of Staff Card, who will resign effective April 14. REUTERS/Jason Reed

This is off the Washington Post:

White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. announced his resignation this morning after nearly 5 1/2 years as President Bush's top aide. Bush said Card will be replaced by Joshua B. Bolten, the director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Card will serve until April 14 to provide a transition period. The move could presage broader staff changes as Bolten takes over an operation hobbled by political problems heading into a crucial midterm election season.

Card has held the top staff job at the White House longer than any person since Sherman Adams under President Dwight D. Eisenhower and had earned enormous respect within the building and around Washington for his calm professionalism and stamina. But his stewardship of the Bush team had come under question in recent months after a series of mishaps, including the failed Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers, the bungled federal response to Hurricane Katrina, the slow public disclosure of Vice President Cheney's shooting accident and the unexpected Republican revolt over a plan to turn over management at a half dozen ports to an Arab-owned company.

Bush said Card had approached him earlier this month about the possibility of stepping down, and Bush accepted his offer this weekend, when the two were at Camp David.

"He's been here 5 1/2 years. The average tenure of chief of staff is two years," said a senior administration official, who spoke before the announcement, but refused to be named so as not to upstage the president.

I'd say that what you have here is that Andrew Card just got burnt out after 5 1/2 years as chief of staff. Toss in the constant pressures of scandal after scandal pounding the White House--Valerie Plame, Katrina, Iraq WMDs, Cheney's shooting accident, Portgate, the war in Iraq, the president's falling poll numbers--and they pretty much pounded Card. Even more, with the disastrous war in Iraq, the Bush White House has failed to sell its message to a skeptical American public that the U.S. is actually winning the war in Iraq. If there is any issue that would have caused a job burnout with Andrew Card, it would have to be Iraq.

With Andrew Card gone, will there be a major shake-up? I doubt it. Bush is replacing Card with another White House insider of Joshua B. Bolten. In other words, Bush is again rewarding political loyalists with plum jobs. Consider this from the Post story:

Bolten is among the most respected officials within the administration and a trusted confidant of the president's--not at all the kind of independent, outside voice that some pundits have said the White House should bring on board.

Bolten served as deputy White House chief of staff in Bush's first term and then was moved over to head the budget office at a time when spending on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Medicare benefits and the recovery from Hurricane Katrina pushed up deficits. In an attempt to deal with the new spending demands, Bolten oversaw two consecutive budgets that actually cut overall non-security discretionary domestic spending. But many Republicans in Congress have complained that the administration has not done enough to tighten the federal belt.

Bolten is a party loyalist within the Bush administration. He served long enough in the Bush administration, followed the Republican mantra, and remained loyal to Bush. His transition to chief of staff is not going to cause any major shake-ups in the Bush White House. Instead, we're going to see the same lock-stop, goose-stepping marching we've seen in this Bush administration for the past five years. In fact, I wonder if Bolten is going to be hamstrung in his job due to his inexperience as a new chief of staff, and as a result of Vice President Cheney's enormous political power and influence within the White House. I don't know what the working relationship, or power balance between Card and Cheney is like within the White House, but I would say that Card could hold his own against the likes of Dick Cheney. Card survived for five years as chief of staff. How will the working relationship, or power balance, be defined between Josh Bolten and Dick Cheney?

I can't say.