Same Play New Cast

Last week’s changes in the White House can best be described as a casting change in the long-running farce known as the Bush Administration. A new Chief of Staff doesn’t mean anything more than superficial change at the higher levels but it did send a scare into the West Wing. The surprise resignation of Scott McLellan as Press Secretary was a bit of a shock. His remarkable career in double-speak comes to an end.

Karl Rove may not be in the building but he’ll still be a major influence on policy. I would suggest that he’ll be working to shape the upcoming congressional election platform and perhaps place Bush in the proper, conservative context. That means he’s going back to directing, instead of acting.

Joel Kaplan is good at asking Congress for money and as the Bush gang goes deeper into debt over the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he’ll be playing the part of Oliver Twist with his hand out. In 2000, when Florida fixed its eyes and its votes on Bush, Kaplan was reportedly part of the pseudo-protest known at the Brooks Brothers Riots. This was a gang of Republicans posing as outraged Florida voters who were sent from Washington to intimidate the staff conducting the recount. So Kaplan has gone from a background performer to lead actor in six years.

Josh Bolten is the George C. Scott version of a Chief of Staff. He’s aggressive, loud and likes to control the conversation. Clearly his appointment and the other inner-circle changes are cosmetic at best. But they do serve an important purpose: distraction.

Just when the heat about who leaked the name of Valerie Plame starts to increase, Bush shakes up his cast of characters and the White House herd, aka the Press Corps, follows his lead. Lewis Libby’s plea of not guilty in the Plame affair, was the more important story, last week, because he’s been charged with perjury during the Fitzgerald investigation. Last week it was reported that Libby said Cheney authorized the leak in 2003.
[See: http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/0414nj3.htm]

Considering how the mainstream media was successfully distracted from the Libby story that could implicate Cheney and Bush, the White House wins again.

George W. should open his own casting agency.

That’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.